
GIass_.X)L6iI 
Book '7\r 



L 



W 






HARPER'S HALF-HOUR SERIES. 

3£Jitio, Paper. 

1. The Turks in Europe. By Edw. A. Freeman.$0 15 

2, 3. Tales from Shakespeare. By Chas. and Mary 
Lamb. Comedies, 25 cts. Tragedies, 25 cts. 

4. Thompson Hall. By Anthony Trollope. Ill's. 20 

5. When the Ship Comes Home. By Walter Be- 
sant and James Rice 25 

G. The Life, Times, and Character of Oliver 
Cromwell. By E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen .... 20 

7. Early England. By F. York-Powell 25 

8. England a Continental Power. By Louise 
Creighton 25 

9. Rise of the People, and Growth of Parliament. 

By James Rowley, M.A 25 

10. The Tudors and the Reformation. By M. 
Creighton, M.A 25 

11. The Struggle Against Absolute Monarchy. By 
Bertha M. Cordery 25 

12. The Settlement of the Constitution. By Jas. 
Rowley, M.A 25 

13. England during the American and European 
Wars. By O. W. Tancock, M.A 25 

14. Modern England. By Oscar Browning, M.A. 25 

15. University Life in Ancient Athens. By W. W. 
Capes 25 

10. A Primer of Greek Literature. By Eugene 

Lawrence 25 

17. A Primer of Latin Literature. By Eugene Law- 
rence 25 

IS. Dieudoune'e. By Geraldine Butt 20 

19. The Time of Roses. By Geraldine Butt 20 

20. The Jilt. By Charles Reade. Illustrated 20 

21. The Mill of St. Herbot. By Mrs. Macquoid ... 20 

22. The House on the Beach. By George Meredith 20 

23. Kate Cronin's Dowry. By Mrs. Cashel Hoey. 15 

24. Peter the Great. Bv John Lothrop Motley. . . 25 

25. Percy and the Prophet. By Wilkie Collins... 20 

26. Cooking Receipts. From Harper's Bazar. .. . 25 

27. Virginia. A Roman Sketch 25 



2 Harper'' s Half-Hour Series. 

28. The Jews and their Persecutors. By Eugene 
Lawrence $0 20 

29. The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton. 

By George Eliot 20 

30. Mr. Gilril's Love Story. By George Eliot 20 

31. Janet's Repentance. By George Eliot 20 

32. The ABC of Finance. By Simon Newcomb. . 25 

33. A Primer of Mediaeval Literature. By Eugene 
Lawrence 25 

34. Warren Hastings. By Lord Macaulay 25 

35. Addison. By Lord Macaulay 25 

36. Lord Clive. By Lord Macaulay 25 

37. Frederic the Great. By Lord Macaulav 25 

38. The Earl of Chatham. By Lord Macaulay 25 

39. William Pitt. By Lord Macaulay 25 

40. Samuel Johnson, LL.U. By Lord Macaulay. . 25 

41. Hampden.— Burleigh. By Lord Macaulay. .. . 25 

42. Sir William Temple. By Lord Macaulay 25 

43. Machiavelli.— Walpole. By Lord Macaulay.. 25 

44. Milton.— Byron. By Lord Macaulay 25 

45. My Lady's Money. Related by Wilkie Collins 25 
40. Poor Ze'ph ! By F. W. Robinson 20 

47. Shepherds All and Maidens Fair. By Walter 
Besant and James Rice 25 

48. Back to Back. By Edward Everett Hale 25 

49. The Spanish Armada for the Invasion of Eng- 
land. 1587-15S8. By Alfred II. Guernsey 20 

50. Da Capo. By Anne Isabella Thackeray 20 

51. The Bride of Landeck. By G. P. R. James. . . 20 

52. Brother Jacob.— The Lifted Veil. By Geo. Eliot 20 

53. A Shadow on the Threshold. By Mary Cecil 
Hay 20 

54. David's Little Lad. ByL. T.Meade 25 

55. Count Moltke's Letters from Russia 25 

50. Constantinople. By James Bryce 15 

' 57-59. English Literature Primers. By Eugene 
Lawrence: 57. Romance Period. — 5S. Classical 

Period. — 59. Modern Period each 25 

00. Tender Recollections of Irene Macgillicuddy. 15 

61. Geor^ie's Wooer. By Mrs. Leith-Adams 20 

62. Seven Years and Mair. By Anna T. Sadlier.. 20 
03. A Sussex Idyl. By Clementiua Black 25 

By Transfer 

* 10 3 i 20? 



Harper 's Half- Hour Series. 3 

64. Goldsmith.— Bunyau.— Madame D'Arblay. By 
Lord Macaulay $0 25 

65. The Youth's Health-Book '25 

66. Reaping the Whirlwind. By Mary Cecil Hay. '20 

67. A Year of American Travel. By Jessie Ben- 
ton Fremont 25 

6S. A Primer of German Literature. By Helen 

S. Conant 25 

60. The Coming Man. By Charles Reade 20 

70. Hints to Women on the Care of Property 20 

71. The Curate of Orsieres. By Otto Roquette.. .. 20 

72. The Canoe and the Flying Proa. By W. L. 
Alden 25 

73. Back to the Old Home. By Mary Cecil Hay. . 20 

74. The Lady of Launay. By Anthony Trollope. 20 

75. Sir Roger de Coverley. From The Spectator. . 25 

76. Pottery Painting. By John C. L. Sparkes 20 

77. Squire Paul. By Hans Warring 25 

78. Professor Pressensee. Bv John Esten Cooke. 25 

79. The Romance of a Back Street. By F.W. 
Robinson 15 

SO. Behind Blue Glasses. By F. W. Hackliinder.. 20 

81. Recollections of Rums Ctaoate. E. P. Whipple. 15 

82. Daisy Miller. By Henry James, Jr 20 

83. A Primer of Spanish Literature. By Helen S. 
Conant 25 

84. A Dark Inheritance. By Marv Cecil Hav 15 

85. The Vicar of Wakefield. By Oliver Gold- 
smith 25 

86. Stories from Virgil. By A. J. Church 25 

87. Our Professor. By Mrs. E. Lynn Linton 15 

8S. The Sorrow of a Secret. By Mary Cecil Hay.. 15 

89. Lady Carmichael's Will and other Christmas 
Stories. By Mary Cecil Hay and others 15 

90. 'Twas in Trafalgar's Bay. By Walter Besant 
and James Rice 2fT 

91. An International Episode. By II. James, Jr. 20 

92. The Adventures of Ulysses. By Charles 
Lamb 25 

93. Oliver Goldsmith's Plavs 25 

94. Oliver Goldsmith's Poems 20 

95. Modern France. By George M. Towle 25 



4 Harper 's Half- Hour Series. 

96. Our Village. By Miss Mitford $0 25 

97. Afghanistan. By A. G. Constable 15 

98. John. By Thomas W. Knox 20 

99. The Awakening. By Mrs. Macqnoid 15 

100. Ballads of Battle and Bravery 25 

101. Six Months on a Slaver. By E. Manning 20 

102. Healthy Houses. By Fleeming Jenkin. 
Adapted hy George E. Waring, Jr 25 

103. Mr. GrantleyVldea. By John Esten Cooke. 25 

104. The Four Georges. By W. M. Thackeray.. . . 25 
105, 10G. The English Humorists. By W. M. Thack- 
eray. In Two Numbers each 25 

10T. Half-Hour History of England. By Mandell 

Creisrhton, M.A 25 

105. Lord Bacon. By Lord Macaulay 25 

109. My Sister's Keeper. By Laura M. Lane 20 

110. Gaspard de Coligny. By Walter Besant, 
M.A 25 

111. Tales from Euripides. Bv Vincent K. Cooper 20 

112. The Task. By William Cowper 20 

113. History. — Hallam's Constitutional History. 

By Lord Macaulay 25 

114. The Lay of the Last Minstrel. By Sir Wal- 
ter Scott 20 

115. Marmion. Bv Sir Walter Scott 25 

116. The Lady of the Lake. Bv Sir Walter Scott. 25 

117. The Lover's Tale. By Alfred Tennvsou 10 

118. Wassail. By Colonel Charles Hamley 20 

119. Modern Whist. By Fisher Ames 20 

120. The Bivals and the School for Scandal. By 
Richard Brinsley Sheridan 25 

121. Holidays in Eastern France. ByM.Belham- 
Edwards 25 

122. Labor and Capital Allies— Not Enemies. By 
Edward Atkinson 20 

123. Chapters on Ants. BvMaryTreat 20 

124. The Bar-Maid at Battletou. By F. W. Rob- 
inson 15 



FOOD AND FEEDING 






BY 



SIR HENRY THOMPSON 






NEW YORK 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS 

FKANKLIN SQUARE 

1879 



TXc>si 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 



I think I shall not be far wrong if I say- 
that there are few subjects more important 
to the well-being of man than the selection 
and preparation of his food. Our fore- 
fathers in their wisdom have provided, by 
ample and generously endowed organiza- 
tions, for the dissemination of moral pre- 
cepts in relation to human conduct, and for 
the constant supply of sustenance to meet 
the cravings of religious emotions common 
to all sorts and conditions of men. In these 
provisions no student of human nature can 
fail to recognize the spirit of wisdom and a 
lofty purpose. But it is not a sign of an- 
cestral wisdom that so little thought has 
been bestowed on the teaching of what we 
should eat and drink ; that the relations, 
not only between food and a healthy pop- 
ulation but between food and virtue, be- 



8 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

tween the process of digestion and the 
state of mind which results from it, have 
occupied a subordinate place in the prac- 
tical arrangements of life. No doubt there 
has long been some practical acknowledg- 
ment, on the part of a few educated per- 
sons, of the simple fact that a man's tem- 
per, and consequently many of his actions, 
depend on such an alternative as whether 
he habitually digests his food well or ill; 
whether the meals which he eats are prop- 
erly converted into healthy material, suit- 
able for the ceaseless work of building 
up both muscle and brain ; or whether 
unhealthy products constantly pollute the 
course of nutritive supply. But the truth 
of that fact has never been generally ad- 
mitted to an extent at all comparable with 
its exceeding importance. It produces no 
practical result on the habits of men in the 
least degree commensurate with the preg- 
nant import it contains. For it is certain 
that an adequate recognition of the value 
of proper food to the individual in main- 
taining a high standard of health, in pro- 
longing healthy life (the prolongation of 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 9 

unhealthy life being small gain either to 
the individual or to the community), and 
thus largely promoting cheerful temper, 
prevalent good-nature, and improved mor- 
al tone, would require almost a revolution 
in the habits of a large part of the commu- 
nity. 

The general outlines of a man's men- 
tal character and physical tendencies are, 
doubtless, largely determined by the im- 
press of race and family. That is, the 
scheme of the building, its characteristics 
and dimensions, are inherited ; but, to a 
very large extent, the materials and filling 
in of the framework depend upon his food 
and training. By the latter term may be 
understood all that relates to mental and 
moral, and even to physical, education, in 
part already assumed to be fairly provided 
for, and therefore not further to be consid- 
ered here. No matter, then, how consum- 
mate the scheme of the architect, or how 
vast the design, more or less of failure to 
rear the edifice results when the materials 
are ill chosen, or wholly unworthy to be 
used. Many other sources of failure there 



10 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

may be which it is no part of my business 
to note ; but the influence of food is not 
only itself cardinal in rank, but, by prior- 
ity of action, gives rise to other and sec- 
ondary agencies. 

The slightest sketch of the commonest 
types of human life will suffice to illus- 
trate this truth. 

To commence, I fear it must be admit- 
ted that the majority of British infants are 
reared on imperfect milk, by weak or ill- 
fed mothers ; and thus it follows that the 
signs of disease, of feeble vitality, or of 
fretful disposition, may be observed at a 
very early age, and are apparent in symp- 
toms of indigestion, or in the cravings of 
want manifested by the "peevish" and 
sleepless infant. In circumstances where 
there is no want of abundant nutriment, 
overfeeding or complicated forms of food, 
suitable only for older persons, produce for 
this infant troubles which are no less grave 
than those of the former. In the next stage 
of life, among the poor, the child takes his 
place at the parents' table, where lack of 
means, as well as of knowledge, deprives 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 11 

him of food more suitable than the rough 
fare of the adult, and, moreover, obtains for 
him, perchance, his little share of beer or 
gin. On the whole, perhaps he is not much 
worse off than the child of the well-to-do, 
who becomes a pet, and is already famil- 
iarized with complex and too solid forms 
of food and stimulating drinks, which cus- 
tom and self-indulgence have placed on 
the daily table. And soon afterward com- 
mence in consequence — and entirely in con- 
sequence, a fact it is impossible too much 
to emphasize — the " sick headaches " and 
"bilious attacks" which pursue their vic- 
tim through half a lifetime, to be exchanged 
for gout, or worse, at or before the grand 
climacteric. And so common are these 
evils that they are regarded by people in 
general as a necessary appanage of " poor 
humanity." No notion can be more erro- 
neous, since it is absolutely true that the 
complaints referred to are self-engendered, 
form no necessary part of our physical nat- 
ure, and for their existence are dependent 
almost entirely on oar habits in relation to 
food and drink. I except, of course, those 



12 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

cases in -which hereditary tendencies are so 
strong as to produce these evils, despite of 
some care on the part of the unfortunate 
victim of an ancestors self-indulgence. 
Equally, however, on the part of that little- 
to-be -revered progenitor was ill -chosen 
food, or, more probably, excess in quanti- 
ty, the cause of disease, and not the physi- 
cal nature of man. 

The next stage of boyhood transfers the 
child just spoken of to a public school, 
where too often insufficient or inappropri- 
ate diet, at the most critical period of 
growth, has to be supplemented from oth- 
er sources. It is almost unnecessary to say 
that chief among these are the pastry-cook 
and the vender of portable provisions, for 
much of which latter that skin -stuffed 
compound of unknown origin, an uncer- 
tified sausage, may be accepted as the type. 

After this period arise the temptations 
to drink, among the youth of all classes, 
whether at beer-house, tavern, or club. For 
it has been taught in the bosom of the 
femily, by the father's example and by the 
mother's precept, that wine, beer, and spir- 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 13 

its are useful, nay, necessary, to health, and 
that they augment the strength. And the 
lessons thus inculcated and too well learn- 
ed were but steps which led to wider expe- 
rience in the pursuit of health and strength 
by larger use of the same means. Under 
such circumstances it often happens, as the 
youth grows up, that a nagging appetite 
or a failing digestion habitually demands 
a dram before or between meals, and that 
these are regarded rather as occasions to 
indulge in variety of liquor than as repasts 
for nourishing the body. It is not surpris- 
ing, with such training, that the true ob- 
ject of both eating and drinking is entire- 
ly lost sight of. The gratification of ac- 
quired tastes usurps the function of that 
zest which healthy appetite produces ; and 
the intention that food should be adapted 
to the physical needs of the body and the 
healthy action of the mind is forgotten al- 
together. So it often comes to pass that 
at middle -age, when man finds himself in 
the full current of life's occupations, strug- 
gling for pre-eminence with his fellows, in- 
digestion has become persistent in some of 



14 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

its numerous forms, shortens his " staying 
power," or spoils his judgment or temper. 
And, besides all this, few causes are more 
potent than an incompetent stomach to en- 
gender habits of selfishness and egotism. 
A constant care to provide little personal 
w r ants of various kinds, thus rendered nec- 
essary, cultivates these sentiments, and they 
influence the man's whole character in con- 
sequence. The poor man, advancing in 
years, suffers from continuous toil with in- 
adequate food, the supply of which is of- 
ten diminished by his expenditure for beer, 
which, although often noxious, he regards 
as the elixir of life, never to be missed 
when fair occasion for obtaining it is of- 
fered. Many of this class are prematurely 
crippled by articular disease, etc., and be- 
come permanent inmates of the parish work- 
house or infirmary. 

It must be obvious to everybody how 
much more of detail might be added to 
fill in the outlines of this little sketch. It 
is meagre in the extreme ; nevertheless it 
suffices for my purpose : other illustrations 
may occur hereafter. 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 15 

But it is necessary to say at this point, 
and I desire to say it emphatically, that 
the subject of food need not, even with the 
views just enunciated, be treated in an as- 
cetic spirit. It is to be considered in rela- 
tion to a principle, in which we may cer- 
tainly believe, that aliments most adapted 
to develop the individual, sound in body 
and mind, shall not only be most accepta- 
ble, but that they may be selected and pre- 
pared so as to afford scope for the exercise 
of a refined taste, and produce a fair de- 
gree of that pleasure naturally associated 
with the function of the palate, and de- 
rived from a study of the table. For it is 
certain that nine-tenths of the gormandize 
which is practised, at all events in English 
society — where, for the most part, it is a 
matter of faith without knowledge — is no 
more a source of gratification to the eater's 
gustatory sense than it is of digestible sus- 
tenance to his body. 

Our subject now shapes itself. Food 
must first be regarded in relation to its 
value as material to be used for building 
up and sustaining that composite structure, 



16 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

the human body, under the varied condi- 
tions in which it may be placed. Secondly, 
the selection of food, and the best modes 
of preparing it, resulting in the production 
of " the dish," a subject of great extent and 
importance, must be dealt with very brief- 
ly. Lastly, the exercise of taste in relation 
to the serving of food and drink, or the art 
of combining dishes to form " a meal," must 
also be considered. 

I shall not regard this as the place in 
which to offer any scientific definition of 
the term food. I shall include within its 
range all the solid materials popularly so 
regarded and therefore eaten. And drink 
being as necessary as solids for the purpose 
of digestion, and to supply that large pro- 
portion of fluid which the body contains 
in every mesh and cell thereof, I shall re- 
gard as " drink" all the liquids which it is 
customary to swallow with our meals, al- 
though probably very few, if any, of them 
can be regarded as food, in any strict sense 
of the term. 

Food is essential to the body in order to 
fulfil two distinct purposes, or to supply 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 17 

two distinct wants inseparable from ani- 
mal life. As certainly as a steam - engine 
requires fuel, by the combustion or oxida- 
tion of which force is called into action for 
various purposes — as the engine itself re- 
quires the mending and replacing of parts 
wasted in the process of working — so cer- 
tainly does the animal body require fuel 
to evoke its force, and material to replace 
those portions which are necessarily wasted 
by labor, whether the latter be what we 
call physical or mental, that is, of limbs or 
of brain. The material which is compe- 
tent to supply both requirements is a com- 
plete or perfect food. Examples of com- 
plete food 'exist in milk and the egg, suf- 
ficing as these do for all the wants of the 
young animal during the period of early 
growth. Nevertheless a single animal prod- 
uct like either of the two named, although 
complex in itself, is not more perfect than 
an artificial combination of various simpler 
substances, provided the mixture (dish or 
meal) contains all the elements required in 
due proportion for the purposes of the body. 
It would be out of place to occupy much 
2 



18 EOOD AND FEEDING. 

space with those elementary details of the 
chemical constitution of the body which 
may be found in any small manual of hu- 
man physiology ■* but, for the right under- 
standing of our subject, a brief sketch must 
be presented. Let it suffice to say that car- 
bon, hydrogen, and oxygen, the three all- 
pervading elements of the vegetable world, 
enter largely into the composition of the 
animal body ; and that the two former es- 
pecially constitute a fuel, the oxidation of 
which produces animal heat, and develops 
the force in its varied forms, physical and 
mental, which the body is capable of ex- 
erting. Besides these, nitrogen, obtainable 
from certain vegetable products, not from 
all, but forming definite combinations with 
the three elements just named, is essential 
to the repair and reproduction of the body 
itself, being one of its most important con- 



1 Such as Physiology, Science Primer, by M. Foster, 
M.A., M.D. (Macmillan) ; Lessons in Elementary Phy- 
siology, by Professor Huxley (Macmillan). For a full 
consideration of the subject, Dr. Pavy's very complete 
Treatise on Food and Dietetics (Churchill, London, 
1875). 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 19 

stituents. Lastly must be named several oth- 
er elements, which, in small proportions, are 
also essential constituents of the body ; such 
as sulphur, phosphorus, salts of lime, magne- 
sia, potash, etc., with traces of iron and oth- 
er metals. All these must be present in the 
food supplied, otherwise animal existence 
cannot be supported ; and all are found in 
the vegetable kingdom, and may be obtain- 
ed directly therefrom by man in feeding on 
vegetables alone. 1 But the process of ob- 
taining and combining these simple ele- 
ments into the more complex forms which 
constitute the bases of animal tissues — def- 
inite compounds of nitrogen with carbon, 
hydrogen, and oxygen — is also accomplish- 
ed by the lower animals, which are exclu- 
sively vegetable feeders. These animals we 
can consume as food, and thus procure, if 
we please, ready prepared for our purpose, 

1 The vegetable kingdom comprehends the cereal?, 
legumes, roots, starches, sugar, herbs, and fruits. Per- 
sons who style themselves vegetarians often consume 
milk, eggs, butter, and lard, which are choice foods 
from the animal kingdom. There are other persona, 
of course, who are strictly vegetable eaters, aud such 
alone have any right to the title of vegetarians. 



20 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

the materials of flesh, sinew, and bone, for 
immediate use. We obtain also from the 
animal milk and the egg, already said to 
be " perfect " foods ; and they are so because 
they contain the nitrogenous compounds 
referred to, fatty matter abundantly, and 
the various saline or mineral matters requi- 
site. But compounds simpler in form than 
the preceding, of a non-nitrogenous kind, 
that is, of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen 
only, are necessary as food for the produc- 
tion of animal heat and force. These con- 
sist, first, of the fat of animals of various 
kinds, and of butter; and, from the vege- 
table kingdom, of the fatty matter which 
exists in grain and legumes, and largely in 
the olive and in many seeds : secondly, of 
the starchy matters, all derived from vege- 
tables, such as a large part of wheaten and 
other flour, rice, arrowroot, and potatoes ; 
together with sugar, gum, and other minor 
vegetable products of a similar kind. The 
fats form the more important group of the 
two, both in relation to the production of 
heat and force; and without a constant 
supply of fat as food the body would cease 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 21 

to exist. The vegetable eater, pure and sim- 
ple, can therefore extract from his food all 
the principles necessary for the growth and 
support of the body as well as for the pro- 
duction of heat and force, provided that 
he selects vegetables which contain all the 
essential elements named. But he must 
for this purpose consume the best cereals, 
wheat or oats ; or the legumes, beans, pease, 
or lentils; or he must swallow and digest 
a large weight of vegetable matter of less 
nutritive value, and therefore containing at 
least one element in large excess, in order 
to obtain all the elements he needs. Thus 
the Irishman requires ten to eleven pounds 
of potatoes daily, which contain chiefly 
starch, very little nitrogen, and scarcely any 
fat: hence he obtains, when he can, some 
buttermilk, or bacon, or a herring, to sup- 
ply the deficiency. The Highlander, living 
mainly on oatmeal, requires a much small- 
er weight, since this grain contains not 
only starch but much nitrogen and a fair 
amount of fat, although not quite sufficient 
for his purpose, which is usually supplied 
by adding milk or a little bacon to his diet. 



22 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

On the other hand, the man who lives 
chiefly or largely on flesh and eggs, as well 
as bread, obtains precisely the same princi- 
ples, but served in a concentrated form, and 
a weight of about two or three pounds of 
such food is a full equivalent to the Irish- 
man's ten or eleven pounds of potatoes and 
extras. The meat eater's digestion is taxed 
with a far less quantity of solid, but that 
very concentration in regard of quality en- 
tails on some stomachs an expenditure of 
force in digestion equal to that required 
by the vegetable eater to assimilate his 
much larger portions. And it must be ad- 
mitted, as a fact beyond question, that some 
persons are stronger and more healthy who 
live chiefly or altogether on vegetables, 
while there are many others for whom a 
proportion of animal food appears to be 
desirable, if not necessary. In studying 
this matter, individual habit must be taken 
into account. An animal feeder may by 
slow degrees become a vegetarian, without 
loss of weight or strength, not without feel- 
ing some inconvenience in the process ; but 
a sudden change in diet in this direction 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 23 

is for a time almost equivalent to starva- 
tion. The digestive organs require a con- 
siderable period to accommodate them- 
selves to the performance of work different 
from that to which they have been long 
accustomed, and in some constitutions 
might fail altogether in the attempt. Be- 
sides, in matters of diet essentially, many 
persons have individual peculiarities; and 
while certain fixed principles exist, such as 
those already laid down as absolutely car- 
dinal, in the detail of their application to 
each man's wants, an infinity of stomach-ec- 
centricities is to be reckoned on. The old 
proverb expresses the fact strongly but truly, 
" What is one man's meat is another man's 
poison." Yet nothing is more common — ■ 
and one rarely leaves a social dinner-table 
without observing it — than to hear some 
good-natured person recommending to his 
neighbor, with a confidence rarely found 
except in alliance with profound ignorance 
of the matter in hand, some special form 
of food, or drink, or system of diet, solely 
because the adviser happens to have found 
it useful to himself. 



24 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

It will be interesting now to take a gen- 
eral but brief survey of the vast range of 
materials which civilized man has at his 
command for the purpose of food : these 
few preliminary remarks on the chemical 
constituents of food having been intended 
to aid in appreciating the value of different 
kinds. 

Commencing with the vegetable king- 
dom, from which our early progenitors, 
probably during long ages, drew all their 
sustenance, the cereals, or cultivated grass- 
es, come first, as containing all the elements 
necessary to life, and being, therefore, most 
largely consumed. Wheat and its conge- 
ners, which rank highest in quality, had 
been distinguished, in the form of bread, as 
" the staff of life," long before the physio- 
logical demonstration of the fact had been 
attained. Wheat, oats, rye and barley, 
maize and rice, are the chief members of 
this group ; wheat containing the most ni- 
trogenous or flesh-forming material, besides 
abundance of starch, a moderate amount of 
fat, together with sufficient saline and min- 
eral elements. Rice, on the other hand, 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 25 

contains very little nitrogen, fat, and min- 
eral constituents, but starch in great abun- 
dance; while maize, with a fair supply of 
nitrogenous and starchy matter, contains 
the most fat or heat-producing material of 
the whole group. As derived from wheat 
must be named the valuable aliments, mac- 
aroni and all the Italian pastes. Derived 
from barley is malt -saccharine, parent of 
the large family of fermented liquors known 
as beer. And from various other grains are 
obtained, by fermentation and distillation, 
several forms of ardent spirit. Vinegar, 
best when produced from the grape, is also 
largely made from grain. 

The legumes, such as beans, lentils, and 
pease, form an aliment of great value, con- 
taining more nitrogen even than the cere- 
als, but with fat in very small proportion, 
while starchy matter and the mineral ele- 
ments abound in both groups. 

The tuber finds its type in the potato, 
which contains much starch, little nitrogen, 
and almost no fat; in the yam also. The 
roots may be illustrated by the beet, carrot, 
parsnip, and turnip, all containing little ni- 



2G FOOD AND FEEDING. 

trogen, but much sugar, and water in large 
proportion. Derived from roots and stems 
of foreign growth, we have arrowroot, tap- 
ioca, and sago, all starches, and destitute 
of nitrogen. Fatty matter is abundantly 
found in the olive, which supplies a large 
,part of the world with an important article 
of food. The almond and other seeds are 
also fruitful sources of oil. 

Under the term "green vegetables," a 
few leading plants may be enumerated as 
types of the vast natural supplies which 
everywhere exist : The entire cabbage tribe 
in great variety ; lettuces, endive, and cress- 
es ; spinach, sea-kale, asparagus, celery, on- 
ions, artichokes, and tomato, all valuable, 
not so much for nutritive property, which 
is inconsiderable, as for admixture with 
other food, chiefly on account of salts which 
they contain, and for their appetizing aro- 
ma and varied flavors. Thus condiments 
are useful, as the sweet and aromatic spices, 
the peppers, mustard, and the various pot- 
herbs, so essential to an agreeable cuisine. 
Sea-weeds, as laver, and the whole tribe of 
mushrooms, should be named, as ranking 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 27 

much higher in nutritive value than green 
vegetables. Pumpkins, marrows, and cu- 
cumbers, chestnuts and other nuts, largely 
support life in some countries. The bread- 
fruit is of high value ; so also are the co- 
coa-nut and the banana in tropical climates. 

Lastly must be named all those delicious 
but not very nutritive products of most va- 
ried kind and source, grouped under the 
name of fruits. These are characterized 
chiefly by the presence of sugar, acid, veg- 
etable jelly, and some saline matter, often 
combined with scent and flavor of exqui- 
site quality. Derived from grapes as its 
chief source, stands wine in its innumerable 
varieties, so closely associated by all civil- 
ized nations with the use of aliments, al- 
though not universally admitted to rank in 
technical language as a food. Next may 
be named sugar in its various forms, a non- 
nitrogenous product of great value, and, in 
a less degree, honey. No less important 
are the tea-plant, the coffee-berry, and the 
seeds of the cacao-tree. 

There is a single element belonging to 
the mineral kingdom which is taken in its 



28 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

natural state as an addition to food, name- 
ly, common salt; and it is so universally 
recognized as necessary, that it cannot be 
omitted here. The foregoing list possesses 
no claim to be exhaustive, only to be fairly 
typical and suggestive; many omissions, 
which some may think important, doubt- 
less exist. In like manner, a rapid survey 
may be taken of the animal kingdom. 

First, the flesh of domestic quadrupeds : 
the ox and sheep, both adult and young; 
the pig; the horse and ass, chiefly in 
France. Milk, butter, and cheese in end- 
less variety are derived chiefly from this 
group. More or less wild are the red deer, 
the fallow-deer, and the roe -deer. As 
game, the hare and rabbit; abroad, the bi- 
son, wild-boar, bear, chamois, and kangaroo, 
are esteemed for food among civilized na- 
tions; but many other animals are eaten 
by half- civilized and savage peoples. All 
these are rich in nitrogen, fatty matters, 
and saline materials. 

Among birds, we have domestic poultry 
in great variety of size and quality, with 
eggs in great abundance furnished chiefly 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 29 

by this class. All the wild-fowl and aquat- 
ic birds; the pigeon tribe and the small 
birds. Winged game in all its well-known 
variety. 

Of fish it is unnecessary to enumerate the 
enormous supply and the various species 
which exist everywhere, and especially on 
our own shores, from the sturgeon to white- 
bait, besides those in fresh-water rivers and 
lakes. All of them furnish nitrogenous 
matter largely, but, and particularly the 
white-fish, possess fat in very small propor- 
tion, and little of saline materials. The 
salmon, mackerel, and herring tribes have 
more fat, the last named in considerable 
quantity, forming a useful food well calcu- 
lated to supplement cereal aliments, and 
largely adopted for the purpose both in 
the south and north of Europe. 

The so-called reptiles furnish turtle, tor- 
toise, and edible frog. Among articulated 
animals are the lobsters, crabs, and shrimps. 
Among mollusks, the oyster and all the 
shell-fish, which, as well as the preceding 
animals, in chemical composition closely 
resemble that of fish properly so called. 



30 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

I shall not enter on a discussion of the 
question : Is man designed to be a vegeta- 
ble feeder, or a flesh-eating or an omnivo- 
rous animal ? Nor shall his teeth or other 
organs be examined in reference thereto. 
Any evidence to be found by anatomical 
investigation can only be safely regarded 
as showing what man is and has been. 
That he has been and is omnivorous to the 
extent of his means, there can exist no 
doubt. Whether he has been generally 
prudent or happy in his choice of food 
and drink is highly improbable, seeing that 
until very recently he has possessed no 
certain knowledge touching the relations 
which matters used as food hold with re- 
spect to the structure and wants of his 
body, and that such recent knowledge has 
been confined to a very few individuals. 
Whatever sound practice he may have at- 
tained, and it is not inconsiderable, in his 
choice and treatment of food, is the result 
of many centuries of empirical observation, 
the process of which has been attended 
with much disastrous failure and some dam- 
age to the experimenters. No doubt much 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 31 

unsound constitution and proclivity to cer- 
tain diseases result from the persistent use 
through many generations of improper food 
and drink. 

Speaking in general terms, man seems, 
at the present time, prone to choose foods 
which are unnecessarily concentrated and 
too rich in nitrogenous or flesh -forming 
material, and to consume more in quantity 
than is necessary for the healthy perform- 
ance of the animal functions. He is apt to 
leave out of sight the great difference, in 
relation to both quantity and quality of 
food, which different habits of life demand, 
e. g., between the habits of those who are 
chiefly sedentary and brain-workers, and of 
those who are active, and exercise muscle 
more than brain. He makes very small ac- 
count of the different requirements by the 
child, the mature adult, and the declining 
or aged person ; and he seems to be still 
less aware of the frequent existence of not- 
able individual peculiarities in relation to 
the tolerance of certain aliments and drinks. 
As a rule, man has little knowledge of, or 
interest in, the processes by which food is 



32 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

prepared for the table, or the conditions 
necessary to the healthy digestion of it by 
himself. Until a tolerably high standard 
of civilization is reached, he cares more for 
quantity than quality, desires little variety, 
and regards as impertinent an innovation 
in the shape of a new aliment, expecting 
the same food at the same hour daily, his 
enjoyment, of which apparently greatly de- 
pends on his ability to swallow the por- 
tion with extreme rapidity, that he may 
apply himself to some other and more im- 
portant occupation without delay. Eating 
is treated, in fict, by multitudes much as 
they are disposed to treat religious duty — 
which eating assuredly is— that is, as a duty 
which is generally irksome, but unfortu- 
nately necessary to be performed. As to 
any exercise of taste in the serving or in 
the combining of different foods at a meal, 
the subject is completely out of reach of 
the great majority of people, and is as lit- 
tle comprehended by them as the structure 
and harmonies of a symphony are by the 
first whistling boy one chances to meet in 
the street. The intelligent reader who has 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 33 

sufficient interest in this subject to have 
followed me thus far may fancy this a 
sketch from savage life. On the contrary, 
I can assure him that ignorance and indif- 
ference to the nature and object of food 
mark the condition of a large majority of 
the so-called educated people of this coun- 
try. Men even boast of their ignorance of 
so trivial a^sulSject, regard it-a$;t^worthy 
the exercise of their powers, and — agnail 
compliment to their wives and sisters^-fit 
only for the ocgig^icjn^bf wl$89 

Admitting man, then, to be physj 
constitulsMSas. to be able to deri^ 
is necessar^t&_ £U$£ie{bltliyVp&Vfid^ 
all his fnnptTofrfe-^mm thp l*mfT?Tl or from 
the vegetable kingdom, either singly or 
combined, he can scarcely be regarded oth- 
erwise than as qualified to be an omnivo- 
rous animal. Add to this fact his posses- 
sion of an intelligence which enables him 
to obtain food of all kinds and climes, to 
investigate its qualities, and to render it 
more fit for digestion by heat — powers 
which no other animal possesses — and there 
appears no d priori reason for limiting his 
3 



34 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

diet to products of either kingdom exclu- 
sively. 

It is a matter of great interest to as- 
certain what have become, under the em- 
pirical conditions named, the staple foods 
of the common people of various climates 
and races — what, in short, supports the life 
and labor of the chief part of the world's 
population. 

In the tropics and adjacent portions of 
the temperate zones, high temperature be- 
ing incompatible with the physical activity 
familiar to Northern races, a very little ni- 
trogenous material suffices, since the waste 
of muscle is small. Only a moderate quan- 
tity of fat is taken, the demand for heat-pro- 
duction being inconsiderable. The chief- 
ly starchy products supply nearly all the 
nutriment required, and such are found in 
rice, millet, etc. Rice by itself is the prin- 
cipal food of the wide zone thus indicated, 
including a large part of China, the East 
Indies, part of Africa and America, and also 
the West Indies. Small additions, where 
obtainable, are made of other seeds, of oil, 
butter, etc. ; and as temperature decreases 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 35 

by distance from the equator, some fish, 
fowl, or other light form of animal food, 
are added. 

In the north of Africa, Arabia, and some 
neighboring parts, the date, which con- 
tains sugar in abundance, is largely eaten, 
as well as maize and other cereals. 

Crossing to Europe, the southern Italian 
is found subsisting on macaroni, legumes, 
rice, fruits, and salads, with oil, cheese, fish, 
and small birds, but very little meat. More 
northward, besides fish and a little meat, 
maize is the chief aliment, rye and other 
cereals taking a second place. The chest- 
nut, also, is largely eaten by the poorer pop- 
ulation, both it and maize containing more 
fatty matter than wheat, oats, and legumes. 

In Spain, the inhabitants subsist chiefly 
on maize and rice, with some wheat and leg- 
umes, among them the garbanzo or " chick- 
pea," and > one of the principal vegetable 
components of the national olla, which con- 
tains also a considerable proportion of ani- 
mal food in variety, as bacon, sausage, fowl, 
etc. Fruit is fine and abundant ; especial- 
ly so are grapes, figs, and melons. There 



36 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

is little or no butter, the universal substi- 
tute for which is olive oil, produced in 
great quantity. Fowls and the pig furnish 
the chief animal food, and garlic is the fa- 
vorite condiment. 

Going northward, flesh of all kinds oc- 
cupies a more considerable place in the 
dietary. In France the garden vegetables 
and legumes form an important staple of 
diet for all classes ; but the very numerous 
small land proprietors subsist largely on 
the direct products of the soil, adding lit- 
tle more than milk, poultry, and eggs, the 
produce of their small farms. The nation- 
al pot-au-feu is an admirable mixed dish, 
in which a small portion of meat is made 
to yield all its nutritive qualities, and to 
go far in mingling its odor and savor with 
those of the fragrant vegetables which are 
so largely added to the stock. The stock- 
meat eaten hot, or often cold with plenty 
of green salad and oil, doubtless the most 
palatable mode of serving it, thus affords 
a source of fat, if not otherwise provided 
for by butter, cheese, etc. 

Throughout the German Empire, the ce- 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 37 

reals, legumes, greens, roots, and fruits sup- 
ply an important proportion of the food 
consumed by the common population. 
Wheaten bread chiefly, and some made 
from rye, also beans and pease, are used 
abundantly. Potatoes and green vegeta- 
bles of all kinds are served in numerous 
ways, but largely in soups, a favorite dish. 
Meats, chiefly pork, are greatly esteemed 
in the form of sausage, and appear also as 
small portions or joints, but freely garnish- 
ed with vegetables, on the tables of those 
who can afford animal diet. Going north- 
ward, where the climate is no longer adapt- 
ed for the production of wheat, as in parts 
of Russia, rye and oats form the staple food 
from the vegetable kingdom, associated 
with an increased quantity of meat and 
fatty materials. 

Lastly, it is well known that the inhab- 
itants of the arctic zone are compelled to 
consume large quantities of oily matter, in 
order to generate heat abundantly; and 
also that animal food is necessarily the sta- 
ple of their dietary. Vegetables, which 
moreover are not producible in so severe a 



38 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

climate, would there be wholly inadequate 
to support life. 

We will now consider the food which 
the English peasant and artisan provide. 
The former lives, for the most part, on 
wheaten bread and cheese, with occasion- 
ally a little bacon, some potatoes, and per- 
haps garden greens : it is rarely, indeed, 
that he can obtain flesh. To this dietary 
the artisan adds meat, mostly beef or mut- 
ton, and some butter. A piece of fresh 
and therefore not tender beef is baked, or 
cooked in a frying-pan, in the latter case 
becoming a hard, indigestible, and wasted 
morsel ; by the former process a somewhat 
better dish is produced, the meat being 
usually surrounded by potatoes or by a 
layer of some batter, since both contain 
starchy products, and absorb the fat which 
leaves the meat. The food of the peasant 
might, however, be cheaper and better; 
while the provision of the artisan is simply 
extravagant and bad. At this period of 
our national history, when food is scarce, 
and the supply of meat insufficient to meet 
the demand which our national habits of 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 39 

feeding perpetuate, it is an object of the 
first importance to consider whether other 
aliments can be obtained at a cheaper rate, 
and at the same time equal in quality to 
those of the existing dietary. Many be- 
lieve that this object may be accomplished 
without difficulty, and that the chief ob- 
stacle to improvement in the food-suppl} 7 , 
not only of the classes referred to, but in 
that of the English table generally, is the 
common prejudice which exists against any 
aliment not yet widely known or tried. 
The one idea which the working -classes 
possess in relation to improvement in diet, 
and which they invariably realize when 
w T ages are high, is the inordinate use of 
butcher's meat. To make this the chief 
element of at least three meals daily, and 
to despise bread and vegetables, is for them 
no less a sign of taste than a declaration 
of belief in the perfection of such food for 
the purposes of nutrition. 

We have already seen that not only can 
all that is necessary to the human body be 
supplied by the vegetable kingdom solely, 
but that, as a matter of fact, the world's 



40 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

population is to a large extent supported 
by vegetable products. Such form, at all 
events, the most wholesome and agreeable 
diet for the inhabitants of the tropics. Be- 
tween about forty and nearly sixty degrees 
of latitude we find large populations of 
fine races trained to be the best laborers in 
the world on little more than cereals and 
legumes, with milk (cheese and butter), as 
food; that little consisting of irregular and 
scanty supplies of fish, flesh, and fatty mat- 
ter. In colder regions vegetable products 
are hardly to be obtained, and flesh and fat 
are indispensable. Thus man is clearly 
omnivorous; while men may be advanta- 
geously vegetarian in one climate, mixed 
eaters in another, and exclusively flesh-eat- 
ers in a third. 

I have not hesitated to say that English- 
men generally have adopted a diet adapt- 
ed for a somewhat more northerly latitude 
than that which they occupy ; that the cost 
of their food is therefore far greater than 
it need be, and that much of their peculiar 
forms of indigestion and resulting chronic 
disease is another necessary consequence of 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 41 

the same error. They consume too much 
animal food, particularly the flesh of cattle. 
For all who are occupied with severe and 
continuous mechanical labor, a mixed diet, 
of which cereals and legumes form a large 
portion, and meat, fish, eggs, and milk form 
a moderate proportion, is more nutritious 
and wholesome than chiefly animal food. 
For those whose labor is chiefly mental, 
and whose muscular exercise is inconsider- 
able, still less of concentrated nitrogenous 
food is desirable. A liberal supply of ce- 
reals and legumes, with fish, and flesh in 
its lighter forms, will better sustain such 
activity than large portions of butcher's- 
meat twice or thrice a day. Then, again, it 
is absolutely certain, contrary to the popu- 
lar belief as this is, that while a good sup- 
ply of food is essential during the period 
of growth and active middle life, a dimin- 
ished supply is no less essential to health 
and prolongation of life during declining 
years, when physical exertion is small, and 
the digestive faculty sometimes becomes 
less powerful also. I shall not regard it as 
within my province here to dilate on this 



42 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

topic, but shall assert that the " support- 
ing " of aged persons, as it is termed, with 
increased quantities of food and stimulant, 
is an error of cardinal importance. These 
things being so, a consideration of no small 
concern arises in relation to the economical 
management of the national resources. For 
it is a fair computation that every acre of 
land devoted to the production of meat is 
capable of becoming the source of three or 
four times the amount of produce of equiv- 
alent value as food, if devoted to the pro- 
duction of grain. In other words, a given 
area of land cropped with cereals and le- 
gumes will support a population more than 
three times as numerous as that which can 
be sustained on the same land devoted to 
the growth of cattle. Moreover, the corn- 
land will produce, almost without extra 
cost, a considerable quantity of animal 
food, in the form of pigs and poultry, from 
the offal or coarser parts of vegetable prod- 
uce which is unsuitable for human con- 
sumption. 

Thus this country purchases every year 
a large and increasing quantity of corn and 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 43 

flour from foreign countries, while more of 
our own land is yearly devoted to grazing 
purposes. The value of corn and flour im- 
ported by Great Britain in 1877 was no less 
than £63,536,322, while in 1875 it was only 
just over £53,000,000. The increased im- 
port during the last thirty -two years is 
well exhibited in the following extract : 
"In 1846 the imports of corn and flour 
amounted to seventeen pounds 1 weight per 
head of population ; in 1855 they had risen 
to seventy pounds per head; and in 1865 
to ninety-three pounds' weight per head of 
population. Finally, in 1877 the imports 
of corn and flour amounted to one hundred 
and seventy pounds' weight per head of 
population of the United Kingdom." 1 

Lastly, those who are interested in the 
national supply of food must lament that, 
while Great Britain possesses perhaps the 
best opportunities in the world for secur- 
ing a large and cheap supply of fish, she 
fails to attain it, and procures so little only, 
that it is to the great majority of the inhab- 

1 Statesman's Year-Book, 1S79, p. 25S. 



44 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

itants an expensive luxury. Fish is a food 
of great value ; nevertheless, it ought, in 
this country, to be one of the cheapest ali- 
ments, since production and growth cost 
absolutely nothing, only the expenses of 
catching and of a short transport being in- 
curred. 

Having eu undated some general princi- 
ples which it is important should first be 
established, I shall offer briefly an illustra- 
tion or two of the manner in which they 
may be applied. This brings us to the sec- 
ond division of the subject, viz., the practi- 
cal treatment of certain aliments in order 
to render them suitable for food. Dealing 
first with that of the agricultural laborer, 
our object is to economize his small pit- 
tance, to give him, if possible, a rather more 
nutritive, wholesome, and agreeable dish — 
he can have but one — than his means have 
hitherto furnished. But here there is little 
scope for change ; already said to live chief- 
ly on bread and cheese, with occasionally 
bacon, two indications only for improve- 
ment can be followed, viz., augmentation 
of nitrogenous matter to meet the wear and 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 45 

tear of the body in daily hard labor, and 
of fatty matter to furnish heat and force. 
A fair proportion of meat, one of the best 
means of fulfilling them, is not within his 
reach. First, his daily bread ought to con- 
tain all the constituents of the wheat, in- 
stead of being made of flour from which 
most of the mineral elements have been re- 
moved. But beans and pease are richer in 
nitrogen than wheat, and equal it in starch, 
mineral matters, and fat, the last being in 
very small quantity, while maize has three 
times their proportion of fat. Hence all of 
these would be useful additions to his diet- 
ary, being cheaper than wheat in the mar- 
ket, although, the retail demand being at 
present small, they may not be so in the 
small shops. As an illustration of the val- 
ue of legumes combined with fat, it may be 
remembered how well the erbswurst sup- 
ported the work of the German armies dur- 
ing the winter of 1870-'71, an instructive 
lesson for us in England at the present mo- 
ment. It consists of a simple pea -soup 
mixed with a certain proportion of bacon 
or lard, and dried so as to be portable, con- 



46 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

stituting in very small compass a perfect 
food, especially suitable for supporting mus- 
cular expenditure and exposure to cold. 
Better than any flesh, certainly any which 
could be transported with ease, the cost 
was not more than half that of ordinary 
meat. It was better also, because the form 
of the food is one in which it is readily ac- 
cessible and easily digested. It was relish- 
ed cold, or could be converted in a few 
minutes into good soup with boiling water. 
But for our laborer probably the best of 
the legumes is the haricot bean, red or 
white, the dried mature bean of the plant 
whose pods we eat in the early green state 
as " French beans." For this purpose they 
may be treated thus : Soak, say, a quart of 
the dried haricots in cold water for about 
twelve hours, after which place them in a 
saucepan, with two quarts of cold water 
and a little salt, on the fire ; when boiling, 
remove to the corner and simmer slowly 
until the beans are tender, the time re- 
quired being about two to three hours. 
This quantity will fill a large dish, and may 
be eaten with salt and pepper. It will be 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 47 

greatly improved at small cost by the ad- 
dition of a bit of butter, or of melted but- 
ter with parsley, or if an onion or two have 
been sliced and stewed with the haricots. 
A better dish still may be made by putting 
all or part, after boiling, into a shallow fry- 
ing-pan, and lightly frying for a few min- 
utes with a little lard and some sliced on- 
ions. With a few slices of bacon added, a 
comparatively luxurious and highly nutri- 
tive meal may be made. But there is still 
in the saucepan, after boiling, a residue of 
value, which the French peasant's wife, who 
turns everything to account, utilizes in a 
manner quite incomprehensible to the Eng- 
lishwoman. The water in which dried 
haricots have stewed, and also that in 
which green French beans have been boil- 
ed, contain a proportion of nutritious mat- 
ter. The Frenchwoman always preserves 
this liquor carefully, cuts and fries some 
onions, adds these and some thick slices of 
bread, a little salt and pepper, with a pot- 
herb or two from the corner of the garden, 
and thus serves hot an agreeable and use- 
ful croute au pot. It ought to be added that 



48 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

the haricots so largely used by the work- 
ing-classes throughout Europe are not pre- 
cisely either " red " or " white," but some 
cheaper local varieties, known as haricots 
du pays. These, I am assured on good 
authority, could be supplied here at about 
twopence a pound, their quality as food be- 
ing not inferior to other kinds. 

But haricots — let them be the fine white 
Soissons — are good enough to be welcome 
at any table. A roast leg or shoulder of 
mutton should be'garnished by a pint boil- 
ed as just directed, lying in the gravy of 
the dish; and some persons think that, 
with a good supply of the meat gravy, and 
a little salt and pepper, " the haricots are 
by no means the worst part of the mutton. " 
Then with a smooth puree of mild onions, 
which have been previously sliced, fried 
brown, and stewed, served freely as sauce, 
our leg of mutton and haricots become the 
gigot a la bretonne well known to all lovers 
of wholesome and savory cookery. Next, 
white haricots stewed until soft, made into 
a rather thick puree, delicately flavored by 
adding a small portion of white puree of on- 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 49 

ions (not browned by frying as in the pre- 
ceding sauce), produce an admirable gar- 
nish for the centre of a dish of small cut- 
lets, or an entree of fowl, etc. Again, the 
same haricot 'puree blended with a veal 
stock, well flavored with fresh vegetables, 
furnishes an admirable and nutritious white 
soup. The red haricots in like manner, 
with a beef stock, make a superlative brown 
soup, which, with the addition of portions 
of game, especially of hare, forms, for those 
who do not despise economy in cuisine 
where the result attained is excellent, a 
soup which in texture and in flavor would 
by many persons not be distinguishable 
from a common puree of game itself. Stew- 
ed haricots also furnish, when cold, an ad- 
mirable salad, improved by adding slices 
of tomato, etc., the oil supplying the one 
element in which the bean is deficient ; and 
a perfectly nutritious food is produced for 
those who can digest it — and they are nu- 
merous — in this form. The same principle, 
it may be observed, has, although empiri- 
cally, produced the well-known dishes of 
beans and bacon, ham and green pease, 
4 



50 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

boiled pork and pease-pudding, all of them 
old and popular, but scientific, combina- 
tions. Thus also the French, serving petits 
pois as a separate dish, add butter freely 
and a dash of sugar, the former making 
the compound physiologically complete, the 
latter agreeably heightening the natural 
sweetness of the vegetable. 

Let me recall, at the close of these few 
hints about the haricot, the fact that there 
is no product of the vegetable kingdom so 
nutritious ; holding its own in this respect, 
as it well can, even against the beef and 
mutton of the animal kingdom. The hari- 
cot ranks just above lentils, which have 
been so much praised of late, and rightly, 
the haricot being also to most palates more 
agreeable. By most stomachs, too, hari- 
cots are more easily digested than meat is ; 
and, consuming weight for weight, the eat- 
er feels lighter and less oppressed, as a 
rule, after the leguminous dish; while the 
comparative cost is very greatly in favor 
of the latter. I do not, of course, overlook 
in the dish of simple haricots the absence 
of savory odors proper to well -cooked 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 51 

meat; but nothing is easier than to com- 
bine one part of meat with two parts of 
haricots, adding vegetables and garden 
herbs, so as to produce a stew which shall 
be more nutritious, wholesome, and pala- 
table than a stew of all meat with vegeta- 
bles, and no haricots. Moreover, the cost 
of the latter will be more than double that 
of the former. 

I have just adverted to the bread of the 
laborer, and recommended that it should 
be made from entire wheat meal; but it 
should not be so coarsely ground as that 
commonly sold in London as " whole meal." 
The coarseness of " whole meal " is a con- 
dition designed to exert a specific effect on 
the digestion for those who need it, and, 
useful as it is in its place, is not desirable 
for the average population referred to. It 
is worth observing, in relation to this coarse 
meal, that it will not produce light, agree- 
able bread in the form of loaves : they usu- 
ally have either hard flinty crusts, or soft 
dough-like interiors; but the following 
treatment, after a trial or two, will be found 
to produce excellent and most palatable 



52 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

bread : To two pounds of whole meal add 
half a pound of fine flour and a sufficient 
quantity of baking-powder and salt ; when 
these are well mixed, rub in about two 
ounces of butter, and make into dough 
with half milk and water, or with all milk 
if preferred. Make rapidly into flat cakes, 
like " tea-cakes," and bake in a quick oven, 
leaving them afterward to finish thorough- 
ly at a lower temperature. The butter and 
milk supply fatty matter, in which the 
wheat is somewhat deficient ; all the saline 
and mineral matters of the husk are retain- 
ed ; and thus a more nutritive form of 
bread cannot be made. Moreover, it re- 
tains the natural flavor of the wheat, in 
place of the insipidity which is character- 
istic of fine flour, although it is indisputa- 
ble that bread produced from the latter, 
especially at Paris and Vienna, is unrival- 
led for delicacy, texture, and color. Whole 
meal may be bought ; but mills are now 
cheaply made for home use, and wheat may 
be ground to any degree of coarseness de- 
sired. 

Here illustration by recipe must cease ; 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 53 

although it would be an easy task to fill a 
volume with matter of this kind, illustra- 
ting the ample means which exist for di- 
minishing somewhat the present wasteful 
use of " butcher's-meats," with positive ad- 
vantage to the consumer. Many facts in 
support of this position will appear as we 
proceed. But another important object in 
furnishing the foregoing details is to point 
out how combinations of the nitrogenous, 
starchy, fatty, and mineral elements may be 
made, in well-proportioned mixtures, so as 
to produce what I have termed a " perfect " 
dish — perfect, that is, so far as the chief 
indication is concerned, viz., one which sup- 
plies every demand of the body, without 
containing any one element in undue pro- 
portion. For it is obvious that one or two 
of these elements may exist in injurious ex- 
cess, especially for delicate stomachs, the 
varied peculiarities of which, as before in- 
sisted on, must sometimes render necessary 
a modification of all rules. Thus it is easy 
to make the fatty constituent too large, 
and thereby derange digestion — a result 
frequently experienced by persons of seden- 



54 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

tary habits, to whom a little pastry, a mor- 
sel offoie gras, or a rich cream is a source 
of great discomfort, or of a " bilious attack;" 
while the laborer, who requires much fatty 
fuel for his work, would have no difficulty 
in consuming a large quantity of such com- 
pounds with advantage. Nitrogenous mat- 
ter also is commonly supplied beyond the 
eater's wants ; and if more is consumed 
than can be used for the purposes which 
such aliment subserves, it must be elimi- 
nated in some way from the system. This 
process of elimination, it suffices to say 
here, is undoubtedly a prolific cause of dis- 
ease, such as gout and its allies, as well as 
other affections of a serious character, 
which would in all probability exist to a 
very small extent, were it not the habit of 
those who, being able to obtain the strong 
or butcher's-meats, eat them daily, year af- 
ter year, in larger quantity than the consti- 
tution can assimilate. 

Quitting the subject of wheat and the 
leguminous seeds, it will be interesting to 
review briefly the combinations of rice, 
which furnishes so large a portion of the 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 55 

world with a vegetable staple of diet. Re- 
membering that it contains chiefly starch, 
with nitrogen in small proportion, and al- 
most no fat or mineral elements, and just 
sufficing, perhaps, to meet the wants of an 
inactive population in a tropical climate, 
the first addition necessary for people be- 
yond this limit will be fat, and, after that, 
more nitrogen. Hence the first effort to 
make a dish of rice " complete " is the ad- 
dition of butter and a little Parmesan 
cheese, in the simple risotto, from which, 
as a starting-point, improvement, both for 
nutritive purposes and for the demands of 
the palate, may be carried to any extent. 
Fresh additions are made in the shape of 
marrow, of morsels of liver, etc., of meat 
broth with onion and spice, which consti- 
tute the mixture, when well prepared, nu- 
tritious and highly agreeable. The ana- 
logue of this mainly Italian dish is the 
2)ilau, or pilaff, of the Orientals, consisting, 
as it does, of nearly the same materials, 
but differently arranged. The curry of 
poultry and the kedgeree of fish are fur- 
ther varieties which it is unnecessary to 



56 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

describe. Follow the same combination 
to Spain, where we find a popular national 
dish, but slightly differing from the forego- 
ing, in the polio con arroz, which consists of 
abundance of rice, steeped in a little broth, 
and containing morsels of fowl, bacon, and 
sausage, with appetizing spices, and suffic- 
ing for an excellent meal. 

Another farinaceous product of world- 
wide use is the maize or Indian corn. With 
a fair amount of nitrogen, starch, and min- 
eral elements, it contains also a good pro- 
portion of fat, and is made into bread, cakes, 
and puddings of various kinds. It is com- 
plete, but susceptible of improvement by 
the addition of nitrogen. Hence, in the 
United States, where it is largely used, it 
is often eaten with beans under the name 
of "succotash." In Italy it is ground into 
the beautiful yellow flour which is conspic- 
uous in the streets of almost every town ; 
when made into a firm paste by boiling in 
water, and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, 
a nitrogenous aliment, it becomes what is 
known as polenta, and is largely consumed 
with some relish in the shape of fried fish, 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 57 

sardines, sausage, little birds, or morsels 
of fowl or goose, by which of course fresh 
nitrogen is added. Macaroni has been al- 
ready alluded to; although rich in nitro- 
genous and starchy materials, it is deficient 
in fat. Hence it is boiled and eaten with 
butter and parmesan (d V italienne) and with 
tomatoes, which furnish saline matters, with 
meat gravy, or with milk. 

Nearer home the potato forms a vegeta- 
ble basis in composition closely resembling 
rice, and requiring therefore additions of 
nitrogenous and fatty elements. The Irish- 
man's inseparable ally, the pig, is the natu- 
ral, and to him necessary, complement of 
the tuber, making the latter a complete 
and palatable dish. The every -day com- 
bination of mashed potato and sausage is 
an application of the same principle. In 
the absence of pork, the potato eater sub- 
stitutes a cheap oily fish, the herring. The 
combination of fatty material with the po- 
tato is still further illustrated in our baked 
potato and butter, in fried potatoes in their 
endless variety of form, in potato mashed 
with milk or cream, served in the ordinary 



58 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

way with maitre cVhotel butter, or arriving 
at the most perfect and finished form in 
the pommes de terre sautees au beurre of a 
first-class French restaurant, where it be- 
comes almost a plat de luxe. Even the sim- 
ple bread-and-butter or bread-and-cheese 
of our own country equally owe their form 
and popularity to physiological necessity; 
the deficient fat of the bread being supple- 
mented by the fatty elements of each addi- 
tion, the cheese supplying also its propor- 
tion of nitrogenous matter, which exists so 
largely in its peculiar principle, caseine. 
So, again, all the suet puddings, " short- 
cake," pie -crust, or pastry, whether baked 
or boiled, consist simply of farinaceous food 
rendered stronger nutriment by the addi- 
tion of fatty matter. 

In the same way almost every national 
dish might be analyzed up to the pot-au-feu 
of our neighbors, the right management of 
which combines nutritious quality with the 
abundant aroma and flavor of fresh vegeta- 
bles which enter so largely into this eco- 
nomical and excellent mess. 

It will be apparent that, up to this point, 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 59 

our estimate of the value of these combina- 
tions has beeu limited, or almost so, by their 
physiological completeness as foods, and by 
their economical value in relation to the re- 
sources of that great majority of all popula- 
tions, which is poor. But when the inex- 
orable necessity for duly considering econ- 
omy has been complied with, the next aim 
is to render food as easily digestible as pos- 
sible, and agreeable to the senses of taste, 
smell, and sight. 

The hard laborer with simple diet, pro- 
vided his aliment is complete and fairly 
well cooked, will suffer little from indiges- 
tion. He cannot be guilty, for want of 
means, of eating too much, fertile source of 
deranged stomach with those who have 
the means; physical labor being also in 
many circumstances the best preventive of 
dyspepsia. " Live on sixpence a day and 
earn it," attributed to Abernethy as the sum 
of his dietary for a gluttonous eater, is a 
maxim of value, proved by millions. But 
for the numerous sedentary workers in 
shops, offices, in business and professions 
of all kinds, the dish must not only be 



60 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

" complete ;" it must be so prepared as to 
be easily digestible by most stomachs of 
moderate power, and it should also be as 
appetizing and agreeable as circumstances 
admit. 

On questioning the average middle-class 
Englishman as to the nature of his food, 
the all but universal answer is, " My living 
is plain, always roast and boiled" — words 
which but too clearly indicate the dreary 
monotony, not to say unwholesomeness, of 
his daily food; while they furthermore ex- 
press his satisfaction, such as it is, that he 
is no luxurious feeder, and that, in his opin- 
ion, he has no right to an indigestion. 
Joints of beef and mutton, of which we all 
know the very shape and changeless odors, 
follow each other with unvarying precision, 
six roast to one boiled, and have done so 
ever since he began to keep house some 
five-and-twenty years ago ! I am not san- 
guine enough to suppose that this unbro- 
ken order which rules the dietary of the 
great majority of British families of moder- 
ate and even of ample means, will be dis- 
turbed by any suggestions of mine. Never- 



FOOD AXD FEEDING. 61 

thelcss, in some younger households, where 
habits, followed for want of thought or 
knowledge, have not yet hardened into 
law, there may be a disposition to adopt a 
healthier diet and a more grateful variety 
of aliment. For variety is not to be ob- 
tained in the search for new animal food. 
Often as the lament is heard that some new 
meat is not discovered, that the butcher's 
display of joints offers so small a range for 
choice, it is not from that source that whole- 
some and pleasing additions to the table 
will be obtained. 

But our most respectable paterfamilias, 
addicted to "plain living," might be sur- 
prised to learn that the vaunted " roasting " 
has no longer in his household the same 
significance it had five -and -twenty years 
ago ; and that probably, during the latter 
half of that term, he has eaten no roast 
meat, whatever he may aver to the con- 
trary. Baking, at best in a half-ventilated 
oven, has long usurped the function of the 
spit in most houses, thanks to the ingenuity 
of economical range-makers. And the joint, 
which formerly turned in a current of fresh 



62 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

air before a well-made fire, is now half 
stifled in a close atmosphere of its own va- 
pors, very much to the destruction of the 
characteristic flavor of a roast. This is a 
smaller defect, however, as regards our pres- 
ent object, than that which is involved by 
the neglect in this country of braising as 
a mode of cooking animal food. By this 
process more than mere "stewing" is of 
course intended. In braising, the meat is 
just covered with a strong liquor of vege- 
table and animal juices (braise or mirepoix) 
in a closely covered vessel, from which as 
little evaporation as possible is permitted, 
and is exposed for a considerable time to a 
surrounding heat just short of boiling. By 
this treatment tough fibrous flesh, whether 
of poultry or of cattle, or meat unduly fresh, 
such as can alone be procured during the 
summer season in towns, is made tender, 
and is furthermore impregnated with the 
odors and flavor of fresh vegetables and 
sweet herbs. Thus, also, meats which are 
dry, or of little flavor, as veal, become satu- 
rated with juices and combined with sapid 
substances, which render the food succu- 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 63 

lent and delicious to the palate. Small 
portions sufficing for a single meal, how- 
ever small the family, can be so dealt with ; 
and a recliauffce, or cold meat for to-mor- 
row, is not a thing of necessity, but only of 
choice when preferred. Neither time nor 
space permits me to dwell further on this 
topic, the object of this paper being rath- 
er to furnish suggestions than explicit in- 
struction in detail. 

The art of frying is little understood, 
and the omelet is almost entirely neglected 
by our countrymen. The products of our 
frying-pan are often greasy, and therefore, 
for many persons, indigestible, the shallow 
form of the pan being unsuited for the proc- 
ess of boiling in oil, that is, at a heat of 
nearly 500° Fahr., that of boiling water 
being 212°. This high temperature pro- 
duces results, which are equivalent indeed 
to quick roasting, when the article to be 
cooked is immersed in the boiling fat. 
Frying, as generally conducted, is rather a 
combination of broiling, toasting, or scorch- 
ing ; and the use of the deep pan of boil- 
ing oil or dripping, which is essential to 



64 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

the right performance of the process, and 
especially preventing greasiness, is a rare 
exception, and not the rule, in ordinary 
kitchens. Moreover, few English cooks can 
make a tolerable omelet ; and thus one of 
the most delicious and nutritious products 
of culinary art, with the further merit that 
it can be more rapidly prepared than any 
other dish, must really at present be re- 
garded as an exotic. Competent instruc- 
tion at first and a little practice are re- 
quired, in order to attain a mastery in pro- 
ducing an omelet; but these given, there 
is no difficulty in turning out a first-rate 
specimen. The ability to do this may be 
so useful in the varied circumstances of 
travel, etc., that no young man destined 
for foreign service, or even who lives in 
chambers, should fail to attain the easily 
acquired art. 

The remainder of the second portion of 
my subject — viz., the preparation of food — 
must appear, although in very brief terms, 
at the commencement of this paper. After 
which I shall proceed to consider the chief 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 65 

object of the present article, viz., the com- 
bination and service of dishes to form a 
meal — especially in relation to dinners and 
their adjuncts. 

I think it may be said that soups, wheth- 
er clear (that is, prepared from the juices 
of meat and vegetables only), or thick 
(that is, 'purees of animal or vegetable mat- 
ters), are far too lightly esteemed by most 
classes in England, while they are almost 
unknown to the working-man. For the 
latter they might furnish an important 
cheap and savory dish ; by the former they 
are too often regarded as the mere prelude 
to a meal, to be swallowed hastily, or disre- 
garded altogether as mostly unworthy of 
attention. The great variety of vegetable 
2)urees, which can be easily made and blend- 
ed with light animal broths, admits of 
daily change in the matter of soup to a re- 
markable extent, and affords scope for taste 
in the selection and combination of flavors. 
The use of fresh vegetables in abundance 
— such as carrots, turnips, artichokes, cel- 
ery, cabbage, sorrel, leeks, and onions — ren- 
ders such soups wholesome and appetizing. 
5 



66 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

The supply of garden produce ought, in 
this country, to be singularly plentiful; 
and, owing to the unrivalled means of trans- 
port, all common vegetables ought to be 
obtained fresh in every part of London. 
The contrary, however, is unhappily the 
fact. It is a matter of extreme regret that 
vegetables, dried and compressed after a 
modern method, should be so much used 
as they are for soups, by hotel-keepers and 
other caterers for the public. Unquestion- 
ably useful as these dried products are on 
board ship and to travellers camping out, 
to employ them at home, when fresh can 
be had, is the result of sheer indolence or 
of gross ignorance. All the finest qualities 
of scent and flavor, with some of the fresh 
juices, are lost in the drying process ; and 
the infusions of preserved vegetables no 
more resemble a freshly made odoriferous 
soup, than a cup of that thick brown, odor- 
less, insipid mixture, consisting of some 
bottled " essence " dissolved in hot w T ater, 
and now supplied as coffee at most railway 
stations and hotels in this country, resem- 
bles the recently made infusion of the fresh- 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 67 

ly-roasted berry. It says little for the taste 
of our countrymen that such imperfect imi- 
tations are so generally tolerated without 
complaint. 

The value of the gridiron is, perhaps, no- 
where better understood than in England, 
especially in relation to chops, steak, and 
kidney. Still, it is not quite so widely ap- 
preciated as it deserves to be in the prepa- 
ration of many a small dish of fish, fowl, 
and meat, to say nothing of a grilled mush- 
room, either alone or as an accompaniment 
to any of them. And it may be worth 
while, perhaps, remarking that the sauce 
par excellence for broils is mushroom cat- 
sup; and the garnish cool lettuce, water- 
cress, or endive. And this suggests a word 
or two on the important addition which 
may be made to most small dishes of ani- 
mal food under the title of "garnish." 
Whether it be a small fillet, braised or roast- 
ed, or a portion thereof broiled ; a frican- 
deau, or the choice end of a neck of mut- 
ton made compact by shortening the bones ; 
or a small loin, or a dish of trimmed neck 
cutlets, or a choice portion of broiled rump- 



68 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

steak; a couple of sweetbreads, poultry, 
pigeon, or what not — the garnish should 
be a matter of consideration. Whether the 
dish be carved on the family table, as it 
rarely fails to be when its head is interested 
in the cuisine, or whether it is handed in 
the presence of guests, the quality and the 
appearance of the dish greatly depend on 
the garnish. According to the meat may 
be added, with a view both to taste and 
appearance, some of the following : purees 
of sorrel, spinach, and other greens, of tur- 
nips, and of potatoes plain, in shapes, or in 
croquettes ; cut carrots, pease, beans, endive, 
sprouts, and other green vegetables ; stew- 
ed onions, small or Spanish ; cucumbers, to- 
matoes, macaroni in all forms ; sometimes 
a few sultanas boiled, mushrooms, olives, 
truffles. In the same way chestnuts are 
admirable, whole, boiled or roasted, and as 
a puree freely served, especially in winter 
when vegetables are scarce ; serving also 
as farce for fowls and turkeys. While 
such vegetables as green pease, French and 
young broad beans, celery and celeriac, as- 
paragus, sea-kale, cauliflower, spinach, arti- 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 69 

chokes, vegetable marrows, etc., are worth 
procuring in their best and freshest condi- 
tion, to prepare with special care as sepa- 
rate dishes. 

It is doubtful whether fish is esteemed 
so highly as an aliment as its nutritious 
qualities entitle it to be, while it offers great 
opportunity for agreeable variety in treat- 
ment. As a general observation, it may be 
said that in preparing it for table sufficient 
trouble is not taken to remove some por- 
tion of the bones ; this can be advanta- 
geously done by a clever cook without dis- 
figuring or injuring the fish. Sauces should 
be appropriately served : for example, the 
fat sauces, as Tiollanclaise and other forms of 
melted butter, are an appropriate comple- 
ment of hot boiled fish, while mayonnaise is 
similarly related to cold. These and their 
variations, which are numerous, may also 
accompany both broiled and fried fish, but 
these are often more wholesome and agree- 
able when served with only a squeeze of. 
lemon-juice, and a few grains of the zest, 
if approved, when a fresh green lemon is 
not to be had — and it rarely can be here. 



70 . FOOD AND FEEDING. 

But the juice of the mushroom is preferred, 
and no doubt justly, by some. Eudless va- 
riations and additions may be made ac- 
cording to taste on these principles. But 
there is another no less important princi- 
ple, viz., that the fish itself often furnishes a 
sauce from its own juices, more appropri- 
ate than some of the complicated and not 
very digestible mixtures prepared by the ' 
cook. Thus "melted butter" — which is 
regarded as essentially an English sauce — 
when intended to accompany fish, should 
not be, as it almost invariably is, a careless- 
ly made compound of butter, flour, and wa- 
ter ; but in place of the last-named ingre- 
dient there should be a concentrated liquor 
made from the trimmings of the fish itself, 
with the addition of a few drops of lemon- 
juice, and strengthened, if necessary, from 
other sources, as from shell -fish of some 
kind. Thus an every-day sauce of whole- 
some and agreeable quality is easily made : 
it finds its highest expression in that ad- 
mirable dish, the sole, with sauce au mn 
Mane of the French, or, as associated with 
shell-fish, in the sole a la normande. Some 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 71 

fish furnish their own sauce in a still sim- 
pler manner, of which an illustration no less 
striking is at hand in the easiest but best 
mode of cooking a red mullet, viz., baking 
it, and securing the gravy of delicious fla- 
vor, which issues abundantly from the fish, 
chiefly from the liver, as its only sauce. 

Passing rapidly on without naming the 
ordinary and well-known service of cold 
meats, fresh and preserved, poultry and 
game, open or under paste in some form, 
to be found in profusion on table or side- 
board, and in which this country is unri- 
valled, a hint or two relating to some light- 
er cold entrees may be suggested. It is 
scarcely possible to treat these apart from 
the salad which, admirable by itself, also 
forms the natural garnish for cold dishes. 
A simple aspic jelly, little more than the 
consomme of yesterday flavored with a little 
lemon-peel and tarragon vinegar, furnishes 
another form of garnish, or a basis for pre- 
senting choice morsels in tempting forms, 
such as poultry livers, ox-palates, quenelles, 
fillets of game,' chicken, wild - fowl, fish, 
prawns, etc., associated with a well-made 



72 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

salad. On this system an enterprising cook 
can furnish many changes of light but ex- 
cellent nutritious dishes. 

On salad so much has been written, that 
one might suppose, as of many other culi- 
nary productions, that to make a good one 
was the result of some difficult and compli- 
cated process, instead of being simple and 
easy to a degree. The materials must be 
secured fresh, are not to be too numerous 
and diverse, must be well cleansed and wash- 
ed without handling, and all water removed 
as far as possible. It should be made by 
the hostess, or by some member of the fam- 
ily, immediately before the meal, and be 
kept cool until w T anted. Very few servants 
can be trusted to execute the simple details 
involved in cross -cutting the lettuce, en- 
dive, or what not, but two or three times 
in a roomy salad-bowl ; in placing one salt- 
spoonful of salt and half that quantity of 
pepper in a table-spoon, which is to be rill- 
ed three times consecutively with the best 
fresh olive oil, stirring each briskly until the 
condiments have been thoroughly mixed, 
and at the same time distributed over the 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 16 

salad. This is next to be tossed well, but 
lightly, until every portion glistens, scatter- 
ing meantime a little finely chopped fresh 
tarragon and chervil, with a few atoms of 
chives over the whole. Lastly, but only 
immediately before serving, one small ta- 
ble-spoonful of mild French vinegar is to 
be sprinkled over all, followed by another 
tossing of the salad. 1 The uncooked to- 
mato, itself the prince of salads, may be 
sliced and similarly treated for separate 
service, or added to the former, equally for 
taste and appearance. Cold boiled aspara- 
gus served with a mayonnaise forms a dish 
of its kind not to be surpassed. At pres- 
ent ranking, when the quality is fine, as an 
expensive luxury, there is no reason why, 
with the improved methods of cultivating 
this delicious and wholesome vegetable, 
it should not be produced in great abun- 
dance, and for less than half its present 
price. 2 As to the manifold green stuffs 

1 A salad for five or six persons is supposed. 

2 On this subject, and also on salad culture, see The 
Parks and Gardens of Paris, by W. Robinson, F.L.S., 
p. 4GS et seq. 2d ed. Macmillan, ISIS. 



74 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

which, changing with the season, may be 
presented as salad, their name is legion ; 
and their choice must be left to the eater's 
judgment, fancy, and digestion, all of which 
vary greatly. 

The combination of dishes to form a 
meal now demands our consideration. The 
occupations of man in a civilized state, no 
less than the natural suggestions of his ap- 
petite, require stated and regular times for 
feeding. But the number of these set apart 
in the twenty-four hours differs consider- 
ably among different peoples and classes. 
Taking a general view of the subject, it 
may be said that there are three principal 
systems to which all varieties of habit may 
be reduced. From an English point of 
view, these may be regarded as — 

1. The Continental system of two meals 
a day. 

2. The system of provincial life (Great 
Britain), or four meals. 

3. The system of town life (ditto), or 
three meals. 

(1.) In the Continental system, the slight 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 7o 

refreshment served in the early morning, in 
the form of coffee or chocolate, with a rusk 
or a morsel of bread, does not amount to a 
meal. It is only a dish, and that a light 
one, and not a combination of dishes, which 
is then taken. At or about noon a substan- 
tial meal, the dejeuner, is served ; and at 
six or seven o'clock an ample dinner. Such 
is the two -meal system, and it appears to 
answer well throughout the west and south 
of Europe. 

(2.) What I have termed the provincial 
system consists of a substantial breakfast 
at eight or nine, a dinner at one or two, a 
light tea about five, and a supper at nine or 
ten. It is this which is popular through- 
out our own provincial districts, and also 
among middle-class society of our northern 
districts throughout both town and coun- 
try. The habits also of the great German 
nation correspond more to this than to the 
first-named system. 

(3.) The prevailing system of London, and 
of the numerous English families through- 
out the country whose habits are formed 
from partial residence in town, or by more 



76 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

or less intimate acquaintance with town 
life, is that of three meals daily. In gener- 
al terms the breakfast takes place between 
eight and ten ; the lunch from one to two ; 
the dinner from half-past six to eight. 

In all cases each meal has its own specif- 
ic character. Thus, here, breakfast is the 
most irregular in its service, and least of all 
demands general and intimate coherence 
of the party assembled. Individual inter- 
ests concerned in the letter - bag, in the 
morning news, in plans for the day, in cares 
of coming business, etc., are respected. 
Provision for acknowledged dietetic pecu- 
liarities on the part of individuals is not 
forgotten, and every one comes or goes as 
he pleases. 

At lunch the assembly is still somewhat 
uncertain. Thus some members of the fam- 
ily are absent without remark ; intimate 
friends may appear without special invi- 
tation; while those less intimate can be 
asked with small ceremony. Occupations 
of pleasure or of business still press for pur- 
suit during the afternoon, and the meal for 
such may not be too substantial. It should 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 77 

suffice amply to support activity ; it should 
never be so considerable as to impair it. 

The last meal of the three — dinner — has 
characters wholly different from the pre- 
ceding. The prime occupations of the 
day are over; the guests are known and 
numbered; the sentiment is one of reunion 
after the dispersion of the day — of relaxa- 
tion after its labors, sports, or other active 
pleasures. Whatever economy of time may 
have been necessary in relation to the fore- 
going meals, all trace of hurry should dis- 
appear at dinner. A like feeling makes 
the supper of the "provincial" system a 
similarly easy and enjoyable meal. And 
all this is equally true of dinner, whether 
it unites the family only, or brings an ad- 
dition of guests. General conversation — 
the events and personal incidents of the 
clay, the current topics of the hour, are dis- 
cussed in a light spirit, such as is compati- 
ble with proper attention to the dishes pro- 
vided. All that follows late dinner should 
for the most part be amusement — it may 
be at the theatre, an evening party, or a 
quiet evening at home. There should be 



78 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

ample time, however, for every coming en- 
gagement, and security for some interven- 
ing rest for digestion. Dinner, then, is the 
only meal -which — as the greater includes 
the less — need be discussed in the third 
part of our subject, which claims to treat 
of custom and art in combining dishes to 
form a repast. With the requirements and 
under the circumstances just specified, it 
should not be a heavy meal, but it should 
be sufficing. No one after dinner should 
feel satiety or repletion, w T ith a sense of re- 
pugnance at the idea of eating more ; but 
all should still enjoy the conviction that a 
good meal furnishes delightful and refresh- 
ing occupation. 

Dinners are of two kinds — the ordinary 
meal of the family, and the dinner to which 
guests are invited. There is a third dinner 
in this country, of common — too common — 
occurrence, viz., the public dinner, which is 
essentially a British institution, and cannot 
be passed by in silence. 

The late dinner should never include 
children. It is a meal which is in every 
way unsuited to them, and they are quite 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 79 

unfitted to take part in its functions ; be- 
sides, the four-meal system is better adapt- 
ed to their requirements of growth and di- 
gestion in early life. A family dinner may 
usually consist of a soup, fish, entree, roast 
and sweet; the entree may even be omit- 
ted ; on the other hand, if the meal is re- 
quired to be more substantial, a joint may 
be served in addition after the fish; but 
this should be very rarely necessary. A 
dish of vegetables may be advantageously 
placed before or after the roast, according 
to circumstances ; and supplementary veg- 
etables should be always at hand. 

The rationale of the initial soup has often 
been discussed: some regard it as calcu- 
lated to diminish digestive power, on the 
theory that so much fluid taken at first di- 
lutes the gastric juices. But there appears 
to be no foundation for this belief: a clear 
soup, or the fluid constituents of a puree, 
disappear almost immediately after enter- 
ing the stomach, being absorbed by the 
proper vessels, and in no way interfere with 
the gastric juice which is stored in its ap- 
propriate cells ready for action. The habit 



80 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

of commencing dinner with soup has with- 
out doubt its origin in the fact that aliment 
in this fluid form — in fact, ready digested — 
soon enters the blood and rapidly refreshes 
the hungry man, who, after a considerable 
fast and much activity, sits down with a 
sense of exhaustion to commence his prin- 
cipal meal. In two or three minutes after 
taking a plate of good warm consomme, the 
feeling of exhaustion disappears, and irri- 
tability gives way to the gradually rising 
sense of good-fellowship with the circle. 
Some persons have the custom of allaying 
exhaustion with a glass of sherry before 
food — a gastronomic no less than a physio- 
logical blunder, injuring the stomach and 
depraving the palate. The soup intro- 
duces at once into the system a small in- 
stalment of ready-digested food, and saves 
the short period of time which must be 
spent by the stomach in deriving some por- 
tion of nutriment from solid aliment, as 
well as indirectly strengthening the organ 
of digestion itself for its forthcoming du- 
ties. Few will be found to dispute the 
second place in order to fish, although this 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 81 

arrangement is in some quarters an open 
question : its discussion, however, can 
scarcely be regarded as within the limit of 
our space. The third dish should consist 
of the chief meat, the joint, if desired ; if 
not, one of the smaller dishes of meat, such 
as fricandeau, cutlets, fillet, or sweetbread, 
before spoken of, well garnished, will be 
appropriate, and to many preferable. Next 
the well-roasted bird — of game or poultry 
— raccompanied or followed by salad, and a 
dish of choice vegetables. Then one light, 
simple sweet, for those who take it, and a 
slight savory biscuit or morsel of cheese, 
completes the repast. Such a meal con- 
tains within its limits all that can be de- 
sired for daily enjoyment and use. If well 
and liberally served, it is complete in every 
sense of the word. Dessert and its extent 
is a matter of individual taste ; of wines, 
coffee, and liqueurs I shall speak hereafter. 
A word about hors Wwuvres. It is well 
known that the custom exists, to a very 
wide extent, among Continental nations 
of commencing either mid -day dejeuner 
or dinner by eating small portions of cold 
6 



82 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

pickled fish, vegetables, of highly-flavored 
sausage thinly sliced, etc., to serve, it is 
said, as a whet to appetite. This custom 
reaches its highest development in the 
zakuska of the Kussian, which, consisting 
of numerous delicacies of the kind men- 
tioned, is sometimes to be found occupying 
a table in an anteroom to be passed be- 
tween the drawing-room and dining-room ; 
or, and more commonly, spread on the side- 
board of the latter. The Russian eats a lit- 
tle from three or four dishes at least, and 
" qualifies " with a glass of strong grain 
spirit {vodka) or of some liqueur before tak- 
ing his place at the table. Among these 
savory preliminaries may often be found 
caviare in its fresh state, gray, pearly, suc- 
culent, and delicate, of which most of the 
caviare found in this country is, speaking 
from personal experience of both, but as 
the shadow to the substance. 

I have no hesitation in saying, after much 
consideration of the practice of thus com- 
mencing a meal, that it has no raison d'etre 
for persons with healthy appetite and di- 
gestion. For them, both pickled food and 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 83 

spirit are undesirable, at any rate on an 
empty stomach. And the hors d'ceuvres, al- 
though attempts to transplant them here 
are often made, happily do not, as far as I 
have observed, thrive on our soil. They 
have been introduced here chiefly, I think, 
because their presence, being demanded by 
foreign gastronomic taste, is supposed to 
be therefore necessarily correct. But the 
active exercise and athletic habits of the 
Englishman, his activity of body and mind 
in commercial pursuits, all tend to bring 
him to the dinner-table wanting food rath- 
er than appetite, and in no mind to ask for 
" whets " to increase it. Among idle men, 
whose heavy lunch, liberally accompanied 
with wine, and not followed by exercise, 
has barely disappeared from the stomach 
at the hour of dinner, a piquant prelude as 
stimulus of appetite is more appreciated. 
Hence the original invention of hors 
d'ceuvres; and their appearance in a very 
much slighter and more delicate form than 
that which has been described, still to be 
observed in connection with the chief re- 
pasts of the Latin races. The one plate 



84 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

which heralds dinner, indigenous to our 
country, is also one of its own best prod- 
ucts — the oyster. But this is scarcely a 
Jiors dlc&uvre. In itself a single service of 
exquisite quality, served with attendant 
graces of delicate French vinegar, brown 
bread and butter, and a glass of light 
chablis for those who take it, the half- 
dozen natives occupying the hollow shells, 
and bathed in their own liquor, hold rank 
of a very different kind to that of the mis- 
cellaneous assortment of tidbits alluded to. 
Oysters are, in fact, the first dish of dinner, 
and not its precursor ; the first chapter, and 
not the advertisement. And this brings us 
to the dinner of invitation. 

And of this dinner there are two very 
distinct kinds. First there is the little 
dinner of six or eight guests, carefully se- 
lected for their own specific qualities, and 
combined with judgment to obtain an har- 
monious and successful result. The ingre- 
dients of a small party, like the ingredients 
of a dish, must be well chosen to make it 
"complete." Such are the first conditions 
to be attained in order to achieve the high- 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 85 

est perfection in dining. Secondly, there is 
the dinner of society, which is necessarily 
large ; the number of guests varying from 
twelve to twenty-four. 

The characteristics of the first dinner are 
— comfort, excellence, simplicity, and good 
taste. Those of the second are — the con- 
ventional standard of quality, some profu- 
sion of supply, suitable display in ornament 
and service. 

It must be admitted that, with the large 
circle of acquaintances so commonly re- 
garded as essential to existence in modern 
life, large dinners only enable us to repay 
our dining debts, and exercise the hospital- 
ity which position demands. "With a strong 
preference, then, for the little dinners, it 
must be admitted that the larger banquet 
is a necessary institution ; and therefore we 
have only to consider now how to make 
the best of it. 

No doubt the large dinner has greatly 
improved of late ; but it has by no means 
universally arrived at perfection. Only a 
few years ago excellence in quality and 
good taste in cuisine were often sacrificed 



86 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

in the endeavor to make a profuse display. 
Hence, abundance without reason, and com- 
binations without judgment, were found co- 
existing with complete indifference to com- 
fort in the matters of draughts, ventilation, 
temperature, and consumption of time. 
Who among the diners-out of middle age 
has not encountered many a time an enter- 
tainment with some such programme as the 
following : one of an order which, it is to 
be feared, is not even yet quite extinct ? 

Eighteen or twenty guests enter a room 
adapted at most to a dinner of twelve. It 
is lighted with gas ; the chief available 
space being occupied by the table, sur- 
rounding which is a narrow lane, barely 
sufficing for the circulation of the servants. 
Directly — perhaps after oysters — appear 
turtle-soups, thick and clear. A consomme 
is to be had on demand, but so unexpected 
a choice astonishes the servitor, who brings 
it after some delay, and cold : with it, 
punch. Following, arrive the fish — salm- 
on and turbot, one or both, smothered in 
thick lobster sauce: sherry. Four entrees 
promenade the circuit in single file, where- 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 87 

of the first was always oyster patties ; af- 
ter which came mutton or lamb cutlets, a 
vol -au- vent, etc. : hock and champagne. 
Three-quarters of an hour at least, perhaps 
an hour, having now elapsed, the saddle or 
haunch of mutton arrives, of which gentle- 
men who have patiently waited get satis- 
factory slices, and currant -jelly, with cold 
vegetables or a heavy flabby salad. Then 
come boiled fowls and tongue, or a turkey 
with heavy force-meat ; a slice of ham, and 
so on, up to game, followed by hot substan- 
tial pudding, three or four other sweets, in- 
cluding an iced pudding; wines in varie- 
ty, more or less appropriate ; to be follow- 
ed by a pate de foie gras, more salad, bis- 
cuits and cheese. Again, two ices, and 
liqueurs. Then an array of decanters, and 
the first appearance of red wine ; a prodig- 
ious dessert of all things in and out of sea- 
son, but particularly those which are out 
of season, as being the more costly. Gen- 
eral circulation of waiters, handing each 
dish in turn to everybody, under a running 
fire of negatives, a ceremonial of ten or fif- 
teen minutes' duration, to say the least. 



88 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

Circulation of decanters ; general rustle of 
silks, disappearance of the ladies ; and first 
change of seat, precisely two hours and a 
half after originally taking it. It may be 
hoped that a charming companion on ei- 
ther side has beguiled and shortened a 
term which otherwise must have been felt 
a little long. Now the general closing up 
of men to host, and reassembling of decan- 
ters ; age and qualities of wine, recommen- 
dation of vintages. Coffee which is nei- 
ther black nor hot. Joining the ladies; 
service of gunpowder-tea, fatal to the com- 
ing night's rest if taken in a moment of 
forgetfulness ; and carriages announced. 

Admitted that such an exhibition is im- 
possible now in any reasonable English cir- 
cle, it nevertheless corresponds very close- 
ly in style with that of the public dinner ; 
a state of things without excuse. And the 
large private dinner is still generally too 
long, the menu too pretentious. Let me, 
however, be permitted to record, equally in 
proof of growing taste and as grateful per- 
sonal duty, how many admirable excep- 
tions to the prevailing custom are now af- 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 89 

forded. Then, of course, it must be under- 
stood that while the dinner for six or eight 
persons is designed as an harmonious whole 
of few, well-chosen dishes, all of which are 
intended to be eaten in their order, the 
menu of the larger party must offer vari- 
ous dishes for choice to meet the differing 
tastes of more numerous guests, and it must 
therefore be larger. Let us see how this 
is to be met. First, the soups : it is the 
custom to offer a consomme, which ought 
to be perfect in clearness, color, and savor, 
and to be served perfectly hot ; containing 
vegetables, etc., variously treated — doubt- 
less the best commencement, as it is the 
key-note, of the dinner; revealing also, as it 
does nine times out of ten, the calibre of 
the cook to whose talent the guest is in- 
trusted. But there is mostly an alterna- 
tive of "white soup," and this is almost 
always a mistake. Many persons refuse it, 
and they are right, containing, as it gen- 
erally does, a considerable proportion of 
cream — an injudicious beginning, when 
there is much, variety to follow; excellent 
sometimes as one of three or four dishes, 



90 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

but dangerous otherwise to the guest who 
has not an exceptionally powerful digestion. 
But suppose oysters, vinegar, and chablis 
. have just been swallowed ! A brown puree, 
as of game, or one of green vegetable, less 
frequently met with, would be far safer. 
Two fish, of course, should always be served ; 
as, for example, a slice of Severn or Christ- 
church salmon, just arrived from the water, 
for its own sake ; and a fillet of white-fish 
for the sake of its sauce and garnish, which 
should be therefore perfect. The next dish 
is, in London, a question under discussion : 
viz., the question of precedence to an entree, 
or to the piece de resistance. The custom 
has been to postpone the appearance of the 
latter until lighter dishes have been de- 
spatched or declined. If, however, the 
English joint is required at a meal already 
comprehensive in the matter of dishes, and 
taken at a late hour, it seems more reason- 
able to serve it next to the fish, when those 
who demand a slice of meat may be ex- 
pected to have an appropriate appetite, 
which will certainly be impaired, equally 
by accepting the entrees, or fasting partially 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 91 

without them. After the joint, two light 
entrees may follow, and these must neces- 
sarily be either in themselves peculiarly 
tempting morsels, or products of culinary 
skill, offering inducement to the palate 
rather than to an appetite which is no long- 
er keen. Then the best roast possible in 
season, and a salad ; a first-rate vegetable, 
two choice sweets, one of which may be 
iced ; a light savory biscuit or a morsel of 
fine barely salted caviare, which may be 
procured in one or two places at most in 
town, will complete the dinner. For des- 
sert, the finest fruits in season to grace the 
table and for light amusement after; or 
simply nuts in variety, and dry biscuits ; 
nothing between the two is tolerable, and 
little more than the latter is really wanted ; 
only for decorative purposes fruit equals 
flowers. But it may be admitted that 
the diminished number of sweet entremets 
strengthens the plea for a supply of deli- 
cious fruits, rendering the dessert useful 
and agreeable as w 7 ell as ornamental. 

And now that dessert is over, let me say 
that I do not admit the charge sometimes 



92 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

intimated, although delicately, by foreign- 
ers, of a too obvious proclivity to self-in- 
dulgence on the part of Englishmen, in 
permitting the ladies to leave the table 
without escort to the drawing-room. The 
old custom of staying half an hour, or even 
an hour afterward, to drink wine, which is 
doubtless a remnant of barbarism, has long 
been considered indefensible. Still, the 
separation of the party into two portions 
for fifteen or twenty minutes is useful to 
both, and leads, perhaps, more completely 
to a general mixture of elements on re- 
union after than is attained by the return 
of the original pairs together. Whether 
this be so or not, the ladies have a short in- 
terval for the interchange of hearsays and 
ideas relative to matters chiefly concerning 
their special interests; while the men en- 
joy that indispensable finish to a good din- 
ner, an irreproachable cup of coffee and a 
cigarette, and the sooner they arrive the 
better. With the small dinners of men it 
can scarcely too quickly follow the last 
service. 
But marked by a special character are 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 93 

some dinners, which may be either small 
or large in relation to the number of 
guests, but which are necessarily limited 
as regards the variety of aliments served. 
I refer to dinners at which either turtle or 
fish predominate. In accordance with a 
principle already enunciated, a bowl of 
substantial stock, containing four or five 
broad flakes of the gelatinous product, of- 
ten miscalled " flit," which alone represents 
the turtle in the compound, is not a judi- 
cious prelude to a dinner arranged accord- 
ing to the orthodox programme, and offer- 
ing the usual variety. A lover of turtle in- 
dulges freely in the soup, both thick and 
clear, making it in fact an important in- 
stalment of his repast ; and he desires, with 
or without some slight interlude, to meet 
the favorite food again in the form of an 
entree. After so substantial a commence- 
ment, the dinner should be completed 
chiefly by poultry, and game if in season, 
and for the most part by dishes which are 
grilled or roast, in contrast to the succulent 
morsels which have preceded. 

The fish dinner, also an occasional de- 



94 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

parture from daily routine, is acceptable, 
and gratifies the taste for that delicate and 
pleasant food in considerable variety. But 
if so indulged, very few dishes ought to 
appear subsequently. It is a curious fact 
that the traditional bacon and beans, which 
appear toward the close of a Greenwich 
whitebait dinner, should afford another il- 
lustration of undesigned compliance with 
the natural law referred to at the outset, 
the bacon furnishing complementary fat to 
supply its notable absence in fish. 

The enjoyment of a curry — and when skil- 
fully made it is almost universally admit- 
ted to be one of the most attractive com- 
binations which can be offered to the senses 
of taste and smell — is only possible at a 
limited repast. When freely eaten, very 
little is acceptable to the palate after- 
ward, exhausted as it is by the pervading 
fragrance of the spice and other adjuncts. 
Hence a curry should form the climax of 
a short series of dishes leading up to it : 
when presented, as it sometimes is, among 
the entrees of a first course, it is wholly out 
of place. 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 95 

Here we may appropriately take a rapid 
glance at the characteristics of the feast 
where the guests are few in number. 

The small dinner-party should be seated 
at a round or oval table, large enough for 
personal comfort, small enough to admit 
of conversation in any direction without 
effort. The table should of course be fur- 
nished with taste, but is not to be encum- 
bered with ornaments, floral or other, ca- 
pable of obstructing sight and sound. A 
perfect consomme, a choice of two fish, ajilet 
or a Chateaubriand, a gigot or a fricandeau ; 
followed by a chaudfroid, a creme de volatile 
garni, a roast and salad, a choice vegetable, 
and an iced souffle or charlotte ; and in sum- 
mer a macedoine of fresh fruits in an old 
china family bowl, if there is one ; and last- 
ly, a savory biscuit ; accompanying vege- 
tables and appropriate wines ; may be re- 
garded as furnishing a scheme for such a 
party, or a theme of which the variations 
are endless. Seven or eight guests can 
thus be brought into close contact : with a 
larger number the party is apt to form two 
coteries, one on each side of the host. The 



96 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

number is a good one also in relation to 
the commissariat department — eight per- 
sons being -well supplied by an entree in 
one dish ; while two are necessary for ten 
or twelve. Moreover, one bottle of wine 
divides well in eight ; if, therefore, the host 
desire to give with the roast one glass of 
particularly fine ripe Corton or Pomard, a 
single bottle is equal to the supply ; and so 
with any other choice specimen of which a 
single circulation is required ; and of course 
the rule holds equally if the circuit is to be 
repeated. 

And this leads us to the question — and 
an important one it is — of the Wine. 

I have already said that, among all civ- 
ilized nations, wine in some form has for 
centuries been highly appreciated as a gas- 
tronomic accompaniment to food. I can- 
not, and do not, attempt to deny it this po- 
sition. Whether such employment of it is 
advantageous from a dietetic or physiolog- 
ical point of view is altogether another 
question. I am of opinion that the habit- 
ual use of wine, beer, or spirits is a dietetic 
error, say, for nineteen persons out of twen- 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 97 

ty. In other words, the great majority of 
the people, at any age or of either sex, will 
enjoy better health, both of body and mind, 
and will live longer, without any alcoholic 
drinks whatever, than with habitual indul- 
gence in their use, even although such use 
be what is popularly understood as moder- 
ate. But I do not aver that any particu- 
lar harm results from the habit of now and 
then enjoying a glass of really fine pure 
wine — and, rare as this is, I do not think 
any other is worth consuming—just as one 
may occasionally enjoy a particularly choice 
dish ; neither the one nor the other, per- 
haps, being sufficiently innocuous or digest- 
ible for frequent, much less for habitual 
use. Then I frankly admit that there are 
some persons — in the aggregate not a few 
— who may take small quantities of gen- 
uine light wine or beer with very little if 
any appreciable injury. For these persons 
such drinks may be put in the category of 
luxuries permissible within certain limits 
or conditions; and of such luxuries let to- 
bacco-smoking be another example. No 
one, probably, is any better for tobacco ; and 
7 



98 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

some people are undoubtedly injured by it; 
while others find it absolutely poisonous, 
and cannot inhale even a small quantity of 
the smoke without instantly feeling sick or 
ill. And some few indulge the moderate 
use of tobacco all their lives without any 
evil effects, at all events that are percepti- 
ble to themselves or to others. 

Relative to these matters, every man 
ought to deal carefully and faithfully with 
himself, watching rigorously the effects of 
the smallest license on his mental and bod- 
ily states, and boldly denying himself the 
use of a luxurious habit if he finds any 
signs of harm arising therefrom. And he 
must perform the difficult task with a pro- 
found conviction that his judgment is very 
prone to bias on the side of indulgence, 
since the luxurious habit is so agreeable, 
and to refrain therefrom, in relation to him- 
self and to the present opinion of society, 
so difficult. Be it remarked, however, that 
the opinion of society is notably and rap- 
idly changing relative to the point in ques- 
tion. 

Having premised thus much, I have only 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 39 

now to say, first, that wine, in relation to 
dinner, should be served during the repast ; 
it should never be taken, in any form or 
under any circumstances, before, that is, 
on an empty stomach, and rarely after the 
meal is finished. Regarded from a gas- 
tronomic point of view alone, nothing 
should appear after fruit but a small glass 
of cognac or liqueur, and coffee. The post- 
prandial habit of drinking glass after glass 
even of the finest growths of the Gironde, 
or of the most mature or mellow shipments 
from Oporto, is doubtless a pleasant, but, 
in the end, for many persons, a costly in- 
dulgence. 

Secondly, whatever wine is given should 
be the most sound and unsophisticated of 
its kind which can be procured. The host 
had far better produce only a bottle or two 
of sound bourgeois wine from Bordeaux — 
and most excellent wine may be found un- 
der such a denomination — with no pre- 
tence of a meretricious title, or other worth- 
less finery about it, than an array of ficti- 
tious mixtures with pretentious labels pro- 
cured from an advertising cheap wine- 



100 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

house. I could only speak in terms of 
contempt and disgust, did I not feel pity 
for the deluded victims, of the unscrupu- 
lous use of the time-honored and historical 
titles which advertisers shamelessly flaunt 
on bottles of worthless compounds by means 
of showy labels, in lists and pamphlets of 
portentous length, and by placards sown 
broadcast through the country. So that 
one may buy " Lafitte " or " Margaux," 
" Chambertin " or " Nuits," '47 port, or even 
'34, at any village store ! No terms can be 
too strong to characterize such trade. 

If fine wines of unquestionable character 
and vintage are to be produced, there are 
only two ways of possessing them : one, by 
finding some wine-merchant of long stand- 
ing and reputation who will do an appli- 
cant the favor to furnish them, and the 
price must be large for quality and age. 
We may be certain that such a one will 
never advertise : no man who really has 
the grands vins of esteemed vintages in his 
cellar need spend a shilling in advertise- 
ments, for he confers a favor on his custom- 
er by parting with such stock. But better 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 101 

and more satisfactory is it to obtain from 
time to time a piece or two of wine, of high 
character and reputed vintage, when they 
are to be had, just tit to bottle, and lay them 
down for years until ripe for use. Com- 
mencing thus in early life, a man's cellar 
becomes in twenty or thirty years a posses- 
sion of interest and value, and he can al- 
ways produce at his little dinners, for those 
who can appreciate it, something curiously 
fine, and free, at all events, from the delete- 
rious qualities of new and fictitious wines. 
Briefly : the rule, by general gastronomic 
consent, for those who indulge in the lux- 
ury of wine, is to offer a glass of light pale 
sherry or dry Sauterne after soup; a deli- 
cate Rhine wine, if required, after fish ; a 
glass of Bordeaux with the joint of mut- 
ton; the same, or champagne — dry, but 
with some true vinous character in it, and 
not the tasteless spirit-and-water just now 
enjoying an evanescent popularity — dur- 
ing the entrees; the best red wine in the 
cellar, Bordeaux or Burgundy, with the 
grouse or other roast game; and — But 
this ought to suffice, even for that excep- 



102 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

tional individual who is supposed to be lit- 
tle if at all injured by " moderate " pota- 
tions. With the ice or dessert, a glass of 
full-flavored but matured champagne, or a 
liqueur, may be served ; but at this point 
dietetic admonitions are out of place, and 
we have already sacrificed to luxury. The 
value of a cigarette at this moment is that 
with the first whiff of its fragrance the pal- 
ate ceases to demand either food or wine. 
After smoke the power to appreciate good 
w T ine is lost, and no judicious host cares to 
open a fresh bottle from his best bin for the 
smoker, nor will the former be blamed by 
any man for a disinclination to do so. 

For unquestionably tobacco is an ally 
of temperance ; certainly it is so in the es- 
timation of the gourmet. A relationship 
for him of the most perfect order is that 
which subsists between coffee and fragrant 
smoke. While wine and tobacco are an- 
tipathetic, the one affecting injuriously all 
that is grateful in the other, the aroma of 
coffee " marries " perfectly with the per- 
fume of the finest leaf. Among the Mus- 
sulmans this relationship is recognized to 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 103 

the fullest extent ; and also throughout the 
Continent the use of coflee, which is almost 
symbolical of temperate habits, is intimate- 
ly associated with the cigarette or cigar. 
Only by the uncultured classes of Great 
Britain and of other Northern nations, who 
appear to possess the most insensitive pal- 
ates in Europe, have smoke and alcoholic 
drinks been closely associated. By such, 
tobacco and spirit have been sought chiefly 
as drugs, and are taken mainly for their ef- 
fects on the nervous system — the easy but 
disastrous means of becoming stupid, be- 
sotted, or drunk. People of cultivated 
tastes, on the other hand, select their to- 
bacco or their wines, not for their qualities 
as drugs, but for those subtler attributes of 
flavor and perfume, which exist often in in- 
verse proportion to the injurious narcotic 
ingredients; which latter are as much as 
possible avoided, or are accepted chiefly for 
the sake of the former. 

Before quitting the subject of dining, it 
must be said that, after all, those who drink 
water with that meal probably enjoy food 
more than those who drink wine. They 



104 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

have generally better appetite and diges- 
tion, and they certainly preserve an appre- 
ciative palate longer than the wine-drinker. 
Water is so important an element to them, 
that they are not indifferent to its quality 
and source. As for the large class which 
cannot help itself in this matter, the impor- 
tance of an ample supply of uncontamina- 
ted water cannot be overrated. The qual- 
ity of that which is furnished to the pojm- 
lation of London is inferior, and the only 
mode of storing it possible to the majority 
renders it dangerous to health. Disease 
and intemperance are largely produced by 
neglect in relation to these two matters. 
It would be invidious, perhaps, to say what 
particular question of home or foreign pol- 
itics could be spared, that Parliament might 
discuss a matter of such pressing urgency 
as a pure water supply ; or to specify what 
particular part of our enormous expendi- 
ture, compulsory and voluntary, might be 
better employed than at present, by divert- 
ing a portion to the attainment of that end. 
But for those who can afford to buy water, 
no purer exists in any natural sources than 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 105 

that of our own Malvern springs, and these 
are aerated and provided in the form of 
soda and potash waters of unexceptionable 
quality. Pure water, charged with gas, does 
not keep so long as a water to which a lit- 
tle soda or potash is added ; but for this 
purpose six to eight grains in each bottle 
suffice — a larger quantity is undesirable. 
All the great makers of these beverages 
have now their own artesian wells or other 
equally trustworthy sources, so that English 
aerated waters are unrivalled in excellence. 
On the other hand, the foreign siphon, made, 
as it often is, at any chemist's shop, and 
from the water of the nearest source, is a very 
uncertain production. Probably our trav- 
elling fellow-countrymen owe their attacks 
of fever more to drinking water contami- 
nated by sewage matter than to the mala- 
rious influences which pervade certain dis- 
tricts of Southern Europe. The only water 
safe for the traveller to drink is a natural 
mineral water, and such is now T always pro- 
curable throughout Europe, except in very 
remote or unfrequented places. 1 In the 

1 Throughout France, St. Galmier; in Germauy, 



106 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

latter circumstances no admixture of wine 
or spirit counteracts the poison in tainted 
water and makes it safe to drink, as peo- 
ple often delight to believe ; but the sim- 
ple process of boiling it renders it perfectly 
harmless ; and this result is readily attain- 
ed in any locality by making weak tea, to 
be taken hot or cold ; or in making toast- 
water, barley-water, lemonade, etc. The 
table waters now so largely imported into 
this country from Germany and France 
contain a considerable proportion of min- 
eral matter in solution, and while they are 
wholesome as regards freedom from or- 
ganic impurities, are, of course, less perfect 
for daily use than absolutely pure waters, 
such as those above referred to. Vaunted 
frequently as possessing certain medicinal 
properties, this very fact ought to prohib- 
it their constant use as dietetic agents for 

Selters ; in Austria and Bohemia, Gieshiibel, are al- 
ways obtainable, being the table-water of most re- 
pute, in each case respectively, of the country itself. 
In all chief places in Italy, either Selters or St. Gal- 
mier, often both, are supplied by the hotels. In Spain 
these are not at present to be had, but the alterna- 
tives recommended are easily obtained. 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 107 

habitual consumption, inasmuch as we do 
not require drugs as diet, but only as occa- 
sional correctives. Among them, the nat- 
ural Selters, Apollinaris, Gieshiibel, and St. 
Galmier — but of this latter some of the 
sources are inferior to others, the best ap- 
pearing now to be chiefly retained for Paris 
— are perhaps among the most satisfactory 
within our reach. A dash of lemon-juice, 
and a thin cutting of the peel, form some- 
times an agreeable addition. I am com- 
pelled to say that the sweet compounds 
and fruity juices which have of late been 
produced as dinner drinks, and apparently 
in competition with wine, are rarely whole- 
some adjuncts to a dinner. Such liquids 
rapidly develop indigestible acid products 
in the stomachs of many persons; while 
for all, the sipping of sweet fluids during a 
meal tends to diminish appetite, as well as 
the faculty of appreciating good cookery. 
If wine is refused, let the drink be of pure 
water — with a sparkle of gas in it, or a 
slight acid in it, if you will — but in obedi- 
ence both to gastronomic and dietetic laws 
let it be free from sugar. No doubt there 



108 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

are exceptional circumstances in which 
fruity juices, if not very sweet, can be taken 
freely. Thus I have rarely quaffed more 
delicious liquor at dinner in the warm au- 
tumn of Southern Europe, notably in Spain, 
than that afforded by ample slices of a wa- 
ter-melon, which fill the mouth with cool 
fragrant liquid ; so slight is the amount of 
solid matter, that it only just serves to con- 
tain the abundant delicate juices of the fruit 
grown in those climates. Here the saccharine 
matter is present only in small proportion. 
Before concluding, a remark or two may 
be permitted in reference to that great 
British institution, the public dinner. Its 
utility must, I suppose, be conceded, since 
for a vast number of charitable and other 
interests the condition of commanding once 
a year the ear of the British public for an 
exposition of their claims, seems in no oth- 
er way at present attainable. A royal or 
noble chairman, a portentous menu, an un- 
stinted supply of wine, such as it is, and 
after-dinner speeches in variety, form an 
ensemble which appears to be attractive to 
the great body of " supporters." On the 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 109 

other hand, those whose presence is en- 
forced by the claim of duty find these ban- 
quets too numerous and too long. The 
noise and bustle, the badly served although 
pretentious dinner, the glare of gas and 
the polluted air, the long, desultory, and 
unmeaning speeches, interspersed with mu- 
sical performances — which, however admi- 
rable in themselves, extend unduly a pro- 
gramme already too comprehensive — unfit 
many a man, seriously occupied, for the en- 
gagements of the morrow. Might it not 
be worth trying the experiment of offering 
fewer dishes, better service, and abolishing 
half the toasts ? Might it not be possible 
to limit the necessary and essential toasts 
of a public dinner to the number of three 
or four — these to be followed only by a few 
subordinate toasts associated with the mi- 
nor interests of the special object of the 
dinner? With the utmost deference to 
long-received usage, and after some little 
consideration, I venture to suggest that the 
following programme would at all events 
be an improvement on the present system, 
if such it can be called : 



110 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

The first toast, or toasts, by which we 
declare our fidelity to the Crown, and our 
loyalty to the person of the Sovereign, as 
well as to the Royal family, to remain, by 
universal consent, as before. The next, or 
patriotic toasts, unlike the preceding, are 
regarded as demanding response, often from 
several persons, and here it is that time is 
generally wasted. These might, therefore, 
be advantageously compressed into one, 
which need not be limited to the military 
and naval services, although it would of 
course include them. The object might be 
attained by constituting a single compre- 
hensive but truly patriotic toast, viz., " Our 
great National Institutions," which are eas- 
ily defined. Supposing them to be regard- 
ed as seven in number, a response might 
be provided for from any two, according to 
the speakers present and the nature of the 
special object. These institutions fall nat- 
urally into order, as — (1) Parliament: its 
leaders. (2) Justice: the judges. (3) The 
military and naval forces: their officers. 
(4) Education: heads of universities and 
public schools. (5) Religion : its ministers. 



FOOD AND FEEDING. Ill 

(6) Science and Art: heads of societies, 
academies, colleges. (7) Literature and the 
Press : distinguished writers. 

The next to be " the toast of the even- 
ing :" in other words, the particular sub- 
ject of the dinner. After this would fol- 
low the healths of officers connected with 
the subject, visitors, etc., if necessary. 

I confess I see no reason why the milita- 
ry and naval forces, however profound our 
respect and our gratitude for their great 
services to the nation must be — and in this 
matter I yield to no man — should invaria- 
bly occupy a toast and speech, to be re- 
sponded to by at least two, often by three 
officers, while the other great and scarcely 
less important interests should be left out 
of consideration altogether, or be only oc- 
casionally introduced. The toast of " Na- 
tional Institutions " would mostly insure to 
the chairman and managers of the dinner an 
opportunity of obtaining two good speak- 
ers from different interests in reply — say, 
one for Justice, and the other for Religion ; 
one for Parliament or the Services, and the 
other for Science or Literature, and so forth. 



112 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

Thus all the varied elements of our national 
life would receive in their turn a due share 
of attention from the great mass of public 
diners, and better speeches would probably 
be secured than by the present mode. 

I confess this is rather an episode; but 
the subject of "toasts" is so interwoven 
with the management of the public dinner, 
that I have ventured to introduce it. I 
even dare to think that the proposition 
may be not unlikely to receive the support 
of " the chair," the duties of which, with a 
long array of toasts, are sometimes exces- 
sively onerous ; only more so, be it recollect- 
ed, in degree than those, of a humbler kind, 
which are entailed on many of the guests 
who are compelled to assist. 

In concluding this imperfect sketch of 
the very large subject indicated by the title 
of my paper, I desire to express my strong 
sense of its manifold shortcomings, espe- 
cially by way of omission. Desiring to call 
attention, in the shortest possible compass, 
to a great number of what appear to me to 
be important considerations in connection 
with the arts of selecting, preparing, and 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 113 

serving food, I have doubtless often failed 
to be explicit in the effort to be brief. It 
would have been an easier task to illustrate 
these considerations at greater length, and 
to have exceeded the limits of a couple of 
articles ; and I might thus perhaps also have 
avoided, in dealing with some topics, a tone 
in statement more positive than circum- 
stances may have warranted. Gastronomic 
tastes necessarily differ, as races, habits, di- 
gestive force, and supplies of food also dif- 
fer ; and it becomes no man to be too dog- 
matic in treating of these matters. Be gu- 
stibus non est disputandum is in no instance 
more true than in relation to the tastes of 
the palate. Still, if any rational canons are 
to be laid down in connection with food 
and feeding, it is absolutely necessary that 
something more than the chemical and 
physiological bearings of the subject should 
be taken into consideration. With these it 
is unquestionably essential for any one who 
treats of my subject to be familiar; but no 
less necessary is it to possess some natural 
taste and experience in the cultivation of 
the gustatory sense; just as a cultivation 



114 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

of the perception of color, and a sensibility 
to the charm of harmoniously combined 
tints, are necessary to an intelligent enjoy- 
ment of the visual sense, and to the under- 
standing of its powers. Hence the treat- 
ment of the whole subject must inevitably 
be pervaded to some extent by the person- 
al idiosyncrasy and predilections of the in- 
dividual. It is this fact, no doubt, which, 
operating in relation to the numerous writ- 
ers on cookery, has tended to produce some 
of the complication and confusion whicli 
often appears in culinary directions and re- 
ceipts. But the gastronomic art is a sim- 
pler one than the effusions of some of its 
professors might lead the wholly unedu- 
cated to believe ; and the complicated pro- 
ductions originated by some of its past and 
greatest practitioners are as unnecessary as 
are the long and complicated prescriptions 
formerly in vogue with the leading physi- 
cians of past time. Both were the natural 
outgrowths of an age when every branch 
of technical education w r as a " mystery ;" 
and when those who had attained the 
meanins; thereof magnified their craft in 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 115 

the eyes of the vulgar by obscuring what 
is simple in a cloud of pedantic terms and 
processes. But that age and its delusions 
are passing away, and it is high time for 
simplicity in the practice of cookery to 
take the place of some useless and extrav- 
agant combinations and treatment which 
tradition has handed down. 

At the present day it appears desirable, 
before all things, to secure the highest 
quality of all produce, both animal and 
vegetable; a respectable standard being 
rarely attained throughout our country in 
regard to the products of the latter king- 
dom. Great Britain has long held, and 
still maintains, the first place as to quality 
for her beef and mutton ; in no other coun- 
try in Europe — I cannot speak of America 
— is it possible to obtain these meats so 
tender, juicy, and well developed. The 
saddle, the haunch, the sirloin, and the 
round, so admirable on occasions, are only 
in danger of suffering here, like intimate 
friends, from too great familiarity with 
their charms. But even our standard of 
quality in meat has been gradually low- 



116 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

ered, from the closer struggle, year by year, 
to produce a fat animal in a shorter space 
of time than formerly ; a result which is 
accomplished by commencing to feed al- 
most exclusively on oil-cake at a very early 
period of life. The result of this process 
is, that size and weight are attained by a 
deposit of fat, rather than by the construc- 
tion of muscular fibre, which alone is true 
meat ; while, as a necessary consequence, 
the characteristic flavor and other qualities 
of fully developed beef and mutton are 
greatly wanting in modern meat. 

Much more unsatisfactory is the supply 
of vegetable and dairy produce to our great 
city, particularly of the former. It must be 
confessed that our market at Covent Gar- 
den, in relation to capabilities for effective 
distribution of fresh vegetables, etc., would 
disgrace a town one-fifth of the size of Lon- 
don. Nineteen -twentieths of its inhabi- 
tants cannot obtain fresh green food on 
any terms, and those who succeed pay an 
exorbitant price. I think I am right in 
saying that a really new-laid egg is a luxu- 
ry which a millionnaire can scarcely insure 



FOOD AND FEEDING. 117 

by purchase; he may keep fowls, and with 
due care may obtain it, not otherwise. The 
great staple of our bread, commonly called 
"baker's bread," is unpalatable and indi- 
gestible; and I suppose no thoughtful or 
prudent consumer would, unless compelled, 
eat it habitually — used as it nevertheless is 
by the great majority of the inhabitants of 
this great city — any more than he would 
select a steak from the coarse beef whose 
proper destination is the stock -pot. Let 
any one compare the facilities which exist 
in most foreign towns for obtaining the 
three important articles of diet just named, 
with the parallel conditions afforded by 
London, and the inferiority of the latter 
will be so manifest as to become matter of 
humiliation to an Englishman. I do not 
raise any question of comparison between 
our own markets and the Halles Centrales 
of Paris, covering as they do nearly five 
acres of closely utilized space, with enor- 
mous vaults beneath, in direct communica- 
tion by tram - road with the railways ; nor 
of the well-stocked Marche* St. Honore, and 
others of less note. To many among the 



118 FOOD AND FEEDING. 

thousands of tourists who frequent the 
public buildings of Paris, an early morning 
survey of the fish, flesh, dairy produce, veg- 
etables, fruit, and flowers, which the Halles 
Centrales display, and the scarcely less re- 
in arkable exhibition of Parisian and pro- 
vincial life brought together there, present 
one of the most interesting and truly for- 
eign spectacles which the city affords. 

To the long list of needed reforms I have 
ventured to advocate in connection with 
this subject, I must add the want of ample 
and accessible markets in various parts of 
London, for what is known as country prod- 
uce. I do this not only in the interest of 
the millions who, like myself, are compelled 
to seek their food within the limits of Cock- 
ayne ; but also in the interest of our coun- 
try gardeners and housewives, who ought 
to be able to supply us with poultry, vege- 
tables, and eggs, better than the gardeners 
and housewives of France, on whom at 
present we so largely depend. We may 
well be grateful to these small cultivators, 
who by their industry and energy supply 
our deficiencies ; but the fact that they do 



FOOD AND FEEDING. Ill) 

so does not redound to the credit of our 
countrymen. 

No doubt, as regards security, liberty, lo- 
comotive facilities, etc., Cockayne is a tol- 
erably comfortable and pleasant place to 
live in; nevertheless it is certainly true that 
greater intelligence, more enterprise, and 
better organization — perhaps of the co-op- 
erative kind — are much required, in order 
to improve not only the sources and quality 
of our food, but also some of our manners 
and customs in relation to selecting, pre- 
paring, and serving it. 



A NEW LIBRARY EDITION 

OF 

Macaulay's England. 



Hacaulay's History of England. New Edition, 
from New Electrotype Plates. 5 vols., 8vo, 
Vellum Cloth with Paper Labels, Gilt Tops 
and Uncut Edges, $10 00. Sold only in Sets. 



The beauty of the edition is the beauty of proper 
workmauship and solid worth, the beauty of fitness 
alone. Nowhere is the least effort made to decorate 
the volumes externally or internally. They are per- 
fectly printed from new plates that have been made 
in the best manner, and with the most accurate under- 
standing of what is needed.: and they are solidly 
bound, with absolutely plain black cloth covers, with- 
out relief of any kind, except such as is afforded by 
the paper label. It is a set of plain, solid, sensible 
volumes, made for use, and so made as to be com- 
fortable in the using.— N. Y. Evening Post. 



Published by HARPEK & BROTHERS, New York. 

B^~ Sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the 
United States, on receipt of the price. 



MOTLEY'S HISTORIES. 

CHEAP EDITION. 

THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUB- 
LIC. A History. By John Lothbop Motley, 
LL.D., D.C.L. With a Portrait of William of Or- 
ange. 3 volumes, Svo, "Vellum Cloth with Paper 
Labels, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $6 00. Sold 
only in Sets. 

HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETH- 
ERLANDS : from the Death of William the Si- 
lent to the Twelve-Years' Truce. With a full View 
of the English-Dutch Struggle against Spain, and of 
the Origin and Destruction of the Spanish Armada. 
By John Lothrop Motley, LL.D., D.C.L. With 
Portraits. 4 vols., Svo, Vellum Cloth with Paper 
Labels, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $S 00. Sold only 
in Sets. 

LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHN OF 
BARNEVELD, Advocate of Holland. With a 
View of the Primary Causes and Movements of the 
" Thirty-Years' War." By John Lotjurop Motley, 
LL.D., D.C.L. Illustrated. 2 vols., 8vo, Vellum 
Cloth with Paper Labels, Uncut Edges and Gilt 
Tops, $i 00. Sold only in Sets. 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

\[W Sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the 
United States, on receipt of the price. 



OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 



POETICAL WORKS OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 

With a Biographical Memoir, and Notes on the Poems. Edited 
by Bolton CORNET". Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3 UO ; Cloth, 
Gilt Edges, $3 "5 ; Turkey Morocco, Gilt Edges, $7 50. 

SELECT POEMS OF OLIVER GOLDSMITII. 

Edited, with Notes, by William J. Rolfe, A.M. Illustrated. 
Small 4to, Flexible Cloth, 70 cents ; Paper, 50 cents. 

GOLDSMITH'S POEMS. 

32mo, Paper, 20 cents ; Cloth, 35 cents. 

GOLDSMITH'S PLAYS. 

32mo, Paper, 25 cents ; Cloth, 40 cents. 

THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. 

By Oliver Goldsmith. lSmo, Cloth, 50 cents. 32mo, Paper, 
25 cents ; Cloth, 40 cents, 

GOLDSMITH. By William Black. 

A Critical and Biographical Sketch. (In the series entitled 
" English Men of Letters.") 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents. 

GOLDSMITH.-BUNYAN.— MADAME D'ARBLAY. 

By Lord Macaulay. 32mo, Paper, 25 cents ; Cloth, 40 cents. 

HISTORY OF GREECE. 

By Oliver Goldsmith. Abridged. 18mo, Cloth, 75 cents. 

HISTORY OF ROME. 

By Oliver Goldsmith. Abridged. 18mo, Cloth, 75 cents. 

OLIVER GOLDSMITH. By Washington Irving. 

With Selections from his Writings. 2 vols., 18mQ, Cloth, $1 50. 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, \ew York. 

W -iny of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to avp 
juart of the United States, on receipt of the price. 



SAMUEL JOHNSON. 



BOSWELL'S JOHNSON. The Life of Samuel John- 
son, LL.D. Including a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. By 
James Boswell, Esq. Portrait of Boswell. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, 
$4 00 ; Sheep, $5 00 ; Half Calf, $8 50. 

JOHNSON'S WORKS. The Complete Works of 

Samuel Johnson, LL.D. With an Essay on his Life and Genius, 
by ARTHUR MURPHY, Esq. 2 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $4 00; Sheep, 
$5 00; Half Calf, $8 50. 

SKETCH OP JOHNSON. Samuel Johnson. By 
Leslie Stephen. 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents. 

JOHNSON'S LIFE AND WRITINGS. Selected and 

Arranged by the Bev. WILLIAM P. PAGE. 2 vols., 18mo, 
Cloth, $1 50. 

MACAULAY'S JOHNSON. Samuel Johnson, LL.D. 

By Lord MACAULAY. 32mo, Paper, 25 cents. 

JOHNSON'S RELIGIOUS LIFE. The Religious 
Life and Death of Dr. Johnson. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. 

SAMUEL JOHNSON: His Words and his Ways; 

What he Said, What he Did, and What Men Thought and 
Spoke Concerning Him. Edited by E. T. MASON. 12mo, Cloth, 
SI 50. 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

B^~ Harper & Brothers will send any of the above 
works by mail, postage, prepaid, to any part of the 
United States, on receipt of the price. 

SW Harper's Catalogue mailed free on receipt of 
Nine Cents in stamps. 



Holly's loin Dw elites. 

Modern Dwellings in Town and Country, adapt- 
ed to American Wants and Climate. In a 
Series of One Hundred Original Designs, com- 
prising Cottages, Villas, and Mansions. With 
a Treatise on Furniture and Decoration. By 
H. Hudson Holly. 8vo Cloth, $4 00. 

No feature of a house, whether important or insig- 
nificant, fails to receive its due share of attention. * * * 
The practical, sensible directions of Mr. Holly's book 
are numberless, and give it a character unlike many 
works, whose suggestions argue an inordinately ple- 
thoric purse and limitless cultivation in art. He is a 
business man, and deals in plans, specifications, and 
estimates. His volume contains many original de- 
signs of cottages, mansions, and villas, accompanied 
by complete descriptions in which the material, dimen- 
sions, and cost of building are distinctly stated in fig- 
ures. * * * There is little doubt that the volume will 
prove, as its author suggests in his preface, "a prac- 
tical and reliable guide for those persons who wish to 
build, furnish, and beautify their houses without an 
extravagant outlay of money." — Boston Transcript. 

Mr. Holly's designs are not only tasteful, but his 
plans are arranged with an eye to comfort, plenty of 
closet room, and a convenient arrangement of rooms. 
* * * The hints are generally good in household art, 
and any one about to build will find it worth his while 
to consult Mr. Holly's book. — X. Y. Herald. 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

E^" Sent by mail, postage prepaid, on receipt of price. 



POTTERY AND PORCELxilN 

OF ALL TIMES AND NATIONS. 

With Tables of Factory and Artists' Marks, for the Use 
of Collectors. 

By WILLIAM C. PRIME, LL.D. 

ILLUSTRATED. 
8vo, Cloth, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, $7. (In a Box.) 

The outgrowth of the author's studies for years— 
not at all exclusive, but as an indulged and engross- 
ing pastime— it gathers np in systematic form the re- 
sults of his study, travel, and collections, but at the 
same time expands without hesitation upon any top- 
ic in his way that is favorite or more than usually fa- 
miliar. Neglecting nothing in the proper scope of 
the work, it spares the reader much dry epitomizing 
from other works, gives the old information in a fresh 
way, and the author's special results with the ease 
and thoroughness of a master. * * * The book is a tit 
ornament for any library; but to ardent lovers of the 
science is simply a necessity. — Sunday School Times, 
Philadelphia. 

The illustrations of the work are numerous and 
finely executed. The paper, printing, and binding 
are themselves a work of art, and sustain the estab- 
lished reputation of the publishers. It would be dif- 
ficult to find a handsomer ornament than Dr. Prime's 
book for parlor or library table, or a more appropri- 
ate gift.— .V. Y. Times. 

Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 



HARPER'S 



Household Dickens Complete. 

Elegant and Cheap. 8vo. With Original Illus- 
trations by Thos. Nast, J. Barnard, E. A. Ab- 
bey, A. B. Frost, J. Mahoney, C. S. Reinhart, and 
other eminent American and English Artists. 



Cloth, $1 00 j Paper, 50 cents. 
.Cloth, $1 25 ; Paper, 75 cents. 



Oliver Twist 

A Tale of Two Cities... 

The Old Curiosity Shop. 

David Copperfield 

Dombey and Sou 

Nicholas Nickleby 

Bleak House 

Pickwick Papers 

Martin Chuzzlewit 

Little Dorrit 

Barnaby Pudge 

Our Mutual Friend 

Christmas Stories 

Great Expectations 

The Uncommercial Trav- 
eller, Hard Times, and 
The Mystery of Edwin 
Drood 

Pictures from Italy, 
Sketches by Boz, and 
American Notes 



The Set Complete, 16 vols., Cloth, in neat box, $22. 



Cloth, $1 50 ; Paper, $1 00. 



EE3P* Harper & Brothers will send either of the 
above works by mail, postage prepaid, to any ]>art of the 
United States or Canada, on receipt of the price. 



BOOKS FOR YOUNG MEN. 

By SAMUEL, SMILES. 

SELF-HELP : with Illustrations of Chnrac 
ter. Conduct, and Perseverance. New Edition, 
revised and enlarged. 12mo, Cloth, $1 00. 

Contents:— Spirit of Self -Help. — Leaders of 
Industry.— Three Great Potters.— Application and 
Perseverance. — Help and Opportunities. — Scien- 
tific Pursuits. — Workers in Art.— Industry and 

the Peerage. — Energy and Courage Men of 

Business.— Money, its Use and Abuse.— Self-Cult- 
ure.— Facilities and Difficulties — Example, Mod- 
els.— The True Gentleman. 



CHARACTER. 12mo, Cloth, $1 00. 

Contents: — Influence of Character. — Home 
Power. — Companionship and Example. — Work. 

— Courage.— Self- Control. — Duty, Truthfulness. 

— Temper. — Manner, Art. — Companionship of 
Books. — Companionship iu Marriage. — Discipliue 
of Experience. 



THRIFT. 12mo, Cloth, $1 00. 

Contents:— Industry. — Habits of Thrift.— Im- 
providence. — Means of Saving. — Examples of 
Thrift.— Methods of Economy. — Life Assurance. 

— Savings-Banks Little Things. — Masters and 

Men.— The Crossleys. — Living above the Means. 
—Great Debtors.— Riches and Charity.— Healthy 
Homes. — Art of Living. 



tW Harper & Broth krs will send either of the above 
works by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United 
States, on receipt of the price. 



LIBRARY 




